[ad_1]
Forty-two Chinese fighter jets briefly crossed the sensitive median line of the Taiwan Strait on Saturday as China began drills to circle Taiwan in anger at President Tsai Ing-wen’s meeting with the Speaker of the US House of Representatives.
The three-day exercise, which was announced a day after Tsai returned from the United States, had been expected after China condemned Wednesday’s meeting with Speaker Kevin McCarthy in Los Angeles.
China regards the democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory and has never refused to use force to control the island. Taiwan’s government strongly denies China’s claims.
Beijing’s announcement also came hours after China hosted a visit by senior European leaders.
‘Shared Swords’ Exercise
The People’s Liberation Army said it had begun combat readiness patrols and “Joint Sword” exercises around Taiwan, after earlier saying it would hold off in the Taiwan Strait and in the north, south and east of Taiwan “as planned.”
“This is a serious warning to Taiwan independence separatist forces and the collusion and provocation of external forces, and is a necessary action to defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity,” the Chinese military’s Eastern Theater Command said in a statement.
Taiwan’s Ministry of Defense said on Saturday morning that 42 Chinese fighters – J-10, J-11 and J-16 – crossed the median line which is usually an unofficial buffer between the two sides, as well as eight Chinese ships.
China is using Tsai’s visit to the US “as an excuse to conduct military exercises, which have undermined regional peace, stability and security,” the ministry said in a statement.
“The military will respond with a calm, rational and serious attitude, and will maintain and monitor according to the principle of ‘no escalation or dispute’ to defend national sovereignty and national security.”
Chinese state media published what it said was training footage, set to martial arts music and showing warships at sea and fighter jets conducting mid-air refueling. Reuters cannot authenticate when or where the material was taken.
Condition ‘as expected’
There was no wider sense of alarm in Taiwan about the drills, where people have long been familiar with the Chinese threat.
China has threatened to retaliate unspecified if the meeting with McCarthy – the second to replace the US president, after the vice president – will happen. Beijing staged war games around Taiwan, including live missile launches, in August after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taipei.
A senior Taiwanese official familiar with security planning in the region told Reuters that the plane had only crossed the center line briefly, while the ships had returned, unlike in August when ships from the two navies engaged in a stand-off.
The situation is “as expected” and manageable, and the Taiwanese government has been rehearsing various scenarios in response, the person said on condition of anonymity, as he was not authorized to speak to the media.
Reuters reporters in the coastal area near Fuzhou, opposite the Taiwanese island of Matsu, saw a Chinese warship firing shells at a drilling area off China’s coast, part of a drill announced by China on Friday.
Tsai, hosting a lunch on Saturday with a delegation of visiting US lawmakers, led by Michael McCaul, chairman of the House foreign affairs committee, said she looked forward to strengthening security cooperation with the United States.
“I want to reiterate that the people of Taiwan love democracy and seek peace,” he said, without directly mentioning the exercise in his comments before television cameras.
Taiwan refused
Tsai has repeatedly offered to negotiate with China but has been rejected because the government considers her a separatist. They say only Taiwanese can decide the future.
The People’s Daily, the official newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party, said in a commentary on Saturday that the government has “a strong ability to thwart the secession of Taiwan’s independence.”
“All countermeasures taken by the Chinese government are within China’s legal and legitimate right to maintain national sovereignty and territorial integrity,” he said.
Unlike in August, China has not announced that it will also conduct missile exercises. When China announced the drills earlier, it published a map showing the maritime areas close to Taiwan that would be fired upon.
Security sources said April is when China usually conducts military exercises.
Taiwanese officials have expected a less severe reaction to McCarthy’s meeting, because it took place in the United States, but they said they could not rule out the possibility of China staging another exercise.
Compromise Chinese ‘thinking’: Xi
China’s announcement came hours after French President Emmanuel Macron left China, where he met with President Xi Jinping and other senior leaders. Macron asked Beijing to talk to Russia about the war in Ukraine.
European Union President Ursula von der Leyen, also in China this week to meet Xi, said stability in the Taiwan Strait was crucial.
Xi responded by saying that he expected China to compromise with Taiwan as “wishful thinking,” according to China’s official reading of the meeting.
China’s defense ministry, also carrying the announcement of exercises around Taiwan, showed a picture on its front page of Xi meeting Macron and von der Leyen.
Taiwanese security sources said China’s recent efforts to woo foreign leaders were futile following the announcement of the drills.
“When the announcement of the training in the strait, all these efforts disappeared overnight and became a futile effort.”
[ad_2]
Source link