The People’s Liberation Army (PLA)’s Eastern Theatre Command announced that China will hold three days of military exercises around Taiwan from Saturday. Taiwan’s defence ministry said that it detected 42 Chinese aircraft and eight warships around the island. The drills began on Saturday after Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen returned from a trip to the United States.
China will hold “combat readiness patrols” and exercises around the Taiwan Strait and to the north, south, and east of Taiwan “as planned”, the PLA announced in a brief statement without offering other details, as quoted by news agency Reuters.
According to CNN’s report, the Eastern Theater Command called the drills “a serious warning against the Taiwan separatist forces’ collusion with external forces, and a necessary move to defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
The exercises, dubbed “United Sharp Sword,” would feature “combat-ready patrols and exercises in and around the Taiwan Strait, and to the north, south and east of Taiwan and the sea and airspace as planned,” Senior Colonel Shi Yi of the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Eastern Theater Command said in a statement, as quoted by the report.
The drills would focus on China’s “capabilities to seize control of sea, air, and information under the support of our joint combat system,” as per the PLA.
42 PLA Aircraft And 8 Vessels Detected By Taiwan, China To Hold Live-Fire Drills
“42 PLA aircraft and 8 vessels were detected by 11:00(UTC+8) April 8th. 29 of the detected aircraft had crossed northern, central, and southern median line of the Taiwan Strait and entered our southwest ADIZ, attempting coercion on us,” Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense tweeted.
“We condemn such an irrational act that has jeopardized regional security and stability. ROC Armed Forces have monitored the situation and tasked CAP aircraft, Navy vessels, and land-based missile systems to respond these activities,” it added.
In another tweet, the ministry mentioned that “PLA’s Eastern Theater Command has announced to conduct combat-readiness patrols and joint exercises encircling Taiwan starting today. ROC Armed Forces have monitored the situation and responded accordingly with our assets to defend our country.”
According to news agency AFP, Taipei’s defence ministry also said that Chinese military drills threaten regional “stability and security”.
China will hold live-fire drills off the coast of eastern Fujian province between 7 am and 8 pm on Monday, AFP reported the province’s maritime authority as informing in a statement.
The four sets of coordinates listed were areas north of Pingtan Island, China’s nearest outpost to Taiwan, the statement mentioned.
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Taiwanese President’s Meeting With US House Speaker Kevin Mccarthy
The Taiwanese President met U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy while in Los Angeles on Wednesday, a move that angered China as it views Taiwan as its own territory.
According to Reuters’s report, Tsai will meet visiting U.S. lawmaker delegation, led by Michael McCaul, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, later on Saturday.
Reuters reported the People’s Daily, the official newspaper of China’s ruling Communist Party, as stating in a commentary on Saturday that the Xi dispensation has “a strong ability to thwart any form of Taiwan independence secession”.
“All countermeasures taken by the Chinese government belong to China’s legitimate and legal right to safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity,” it added.
China-Taiwan Tensions
The Taiwanese President has time and again strongly rejected China’s sovereignty claims. She also offered talks with Beijing but the Xi government rejected the proposals as it sees her as a separatist. Tsai has said that only Taiwan’s people can decide their own future.
Last year, Beijing staged war games around Taiwan, including live fire missile launches, in August after then-US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taipei.
China’s fresh announcement on drills came hours after French President Emmanuel Macron left China following meetings with senior leaders, including President Xi Jinping, where Macron urged Beijing to talk sense to Russia over the war in Ukraine, Reuters reported.
European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen who is in China this week to meet Xi, also said that stability in the Taiwan Strait was of paramount importance.
In response, Xi said that expecting Beijing to compromise on Taiwan was “wishful thinking”, according to China’s official reading of the meeting, as cited by the report.