FUZHOU: China started a three-day military exercise around Taiwan on Saturday after Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen’s met with the United States House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
The drills, announced a day earlier after Tsai returned from the United States after meeting McCarthy in Los Angeles, had been widely expected after China condemned the meeting.
China views Taiwan as its territory and never renounced the use of force to bring the island under its control. The government of Taiwan strongly objects to China’s claim.
China’s People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theatre Command said it had started the combat readiness patrols and “Joint Sword” exercises around Taiwan. It said it would be holding them in the Taiwan Strait and to the south, north, and east of Taiwan “as planned”.
It said that “This is the warning to the Taiwan independence separatist forces and external forces’ collusion and provocation, and it is the compulsory action to defend national sovereignty and national territorial integrity”
Taiwan’s Defence Ministry said it monitored the situation, maintained a high degree of vigilance, and would respond appropriately to defend the island’s security.
The ministry said that China was using Tsai’s United States visit “as an excuse to carry out military exercises, which has damaged regional peace, stability and security”
“The military would respond with a calm, rational and serious attitude, and would stand guard and monitor in accordance with the principles of ‘not escalating nor disputes’ to defend national security and national sovereignty and national security.”
