By Ben Blanchard and Roger Tung
TAIPEI (Reuters) -A real Chinese blockade of Taiwan would be an act of war and have far-reaching consequences for international trade, Defence Minister Wellington Koo said on Wednesday after drills by China last week practiced such a scenario.
China, which views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory, has over the past five years staged almost daily military activities around the island, including war games that have practiced blockades and attacks on ports. Taiwan's government rejects Beijing's sovereignty claims.
China's latest war games, carried out last week, included simulating blockading ports and areas and assaulting maritime and ground targets, Beijing said.
Speaking to reporters at parliament, Koo said that while "Joint Sword-2024B" delineated the exercise area, there were not any no-flight or no-sail zones.
He said that under international law a blockade would prohibit all aircraft and ships entering an area.
"Then according to United Nations resolutions it is regarded as a form of war," he said.
"I want to stress that drills and exercises are totally different from a blockade, as would be the impact on the international community."
A blockade would have consequences beyond Taiwan, Koo said, saying that one-fifth of global freight passed through the Taiwan Strait.
"The international community could not sit by and just watch," he said.
Taiwan has been outlining its preparations for a blockade, including food supplies, but Koo pointed to liquefied natural gas (LNG) as a weak point.
Economy ministry official Hu Wen-chung added that Taiwan currently holds around eight days of LNG supplies, and is planning to extend that to 14 days by 2027, but as a contingency decommissioned coal-fired power stations can be brought back online.
CARRIER IN THE STRAIT
While last week's war games lasted only a day, Chinese military activity has continued. China has never renounced the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control.
Taiwan's defence ministry said earlier on Wednesday that a Chinese aircraft carrier group sailed through the Taiwan Strait, travelling in a northerly direction after passing through waters near the Taiwan-controlled Pratas Islands.
The ministry said the Chinese ships, led by Liaoning, the oldest of China's three aircraft carriers, were spotted on Tuesday night, and its forces monitored the fleet. The Pratas are at the northern end of the South China Sea.
China's defence ministry did not respond to a request for comment.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian told reporters in Beijing that as Taiwan was Chinese territory, "there is nothing more normal than China's aircraft carriers operating in their own territory and waters".
The Liaoning was involved in those same Chinese war games last week near Taiwan.
Taiwan said at the time that the Liaoning operated off the island's southeast coast during those drills, launching aircraft off its deck.
Japan said last month the same carrier had entered Japan's contiguous waters for the first time.
China has sailed its carriers through the strategic strait before, including in December shortly before Taiwan held elections.
China says it alone has jurisdiction over the nearly 180 km (110 miles) wide waterway that is a major passageway for international trade. Taiwan and the United States dispute that, saying the Taiwan Strait is an international waterway.
The U.S. Navy regularly sails through the strait to assert freedom of navigation rights. Other allied nations, like Canada, Germany and Britain have also carried out similar missions, to the anger of Beijing.
Taiwan has also been worried about China's use of its coast guard in recent war games, and is especially concerned Taiwanese civilian ships may be boarded and inspected as Beijing seeks to assert legal authority in the strait.
Taiwan's coast guard, in a report to parliament on Wednesday, said if that happened its ships would respond under the principle of "neither provoking nor backing down" and stop such acts "with all its strength".