China’s military yesterday said it recently held joint combat readiness exercises, patrols and combat drills in the sea and airspace around Taiwan, as a senior US senator visited Taipei for a meeting with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文).
The exercises, announced by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command, were organized in response to “collusion and provocations” by Taiwan and the US, Chinese Ministry of National Defense spokesman Colonel Wu Qian (吳謙) said in a statement.
Several Chinese fighter jets crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait yesterday in the northern part of the waterway, a Taiwan source briefed on the matter said, adding that the aircraft did not enter Taiwan’s airspace.
Photo: Reuters
The source said it was rare for Chinese aircraft to cross the unofficial buffer, especially from Taiwan’s northwest.
The aircraft “flew straight across” the median line and “circled around” carrying out tactical operations, the person said, adding that Taiwan scrambled fighter jets to intercept the Chinese planes.
“It was a clear message of provocation,” the person said, citing the current visit to Taipei by US Senator Rick Scott, a senior Republican who chairs the National Republican Senatorial Committee and is a member of the US Senate Committee on Armed Services.
Taiwan’s air force said it has a “full grasp” of the situation in the area and is “actively” defending national security.
It did not elaborate.
The Ministry of National Defense condemned China for harming regional peace while the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said these maneuvers posed a "severe military threat" to Taiwan.
China has also demanded that the US cease military “collusion” with Taiwan during a virtual meeting between the joint chiefs of staff of the two countries whose relationship has grown increasingly fractious.
Chinese General Li Zuocheng (李作成) on Thursday told US Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Mark Milley that China had “no room for compromise” on issues affecting its “core interests,” which include Taiwan.
“China demands the US ... cease reversing history, cease US-Taiwan military collusion and avoid impacting China-US ties and stability in the Taiwan Strait,” Li said.
The Chinese military would “resolutely safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity,” he said. “If anyone creates a wanton provocation, they will be met with the firm counterattack from the Chinese people.”
Such language from Chinese officials is fairly routine, and Li was also quoted in a Chinese Ministry of Defense news release saying that China hoped to “further strengthen dialogue, handle risks and promote cooperation, rather than deliberately creating confrontation, provoking incidents and becoming mutually exclusive.”
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