FLASH
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China's military launched drills around Taiwan on Saturday in a "strong warning" about what the Chinese Ministry of Defense described as collusion between "separatists and foreign forces". This development comes a few days after the stops that the vice president of the island made in the United States.
Taiwanese Vice President William Lai's recent trip to Paraguay also included stops in San Francisco and New York.
Beijing claims that Taiwan is part of its territory and adheres to the position that the democratic island has no right to maintain relations with other foreign countries.
Chinese authorities said in a brief statement that the military drills aimed to coordinate ships and aircraft and their capabilities to ensure control of air and sea spaces.
Beijing said it was also testing the "combat capabilities of the troops", adding that the exercises in the waters and airspace north and southwest of Taiwan were a warning about provocations by the island's pro-independence forces as well as foreign forces. The Chinese military command also published footage from the exercises online.
In response, Taiwan's Ministry of Defense announced on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, that its forces had detected 42 Chinese military aircraft as of 9 a.m. Saturday. The announcement also said 26 of them had crossed the middle line of the Taiwan Strait, an unofficial border considered a neutral zone between the island and China.
Taiwan said it deployed aircraft and ships and activated land-based missile systems in response to the drills and was closely monitoring the situation.
Taiwan's Ministry of Defense also strongly condemned what it called an "irrational and provocative move" by the government. Taiwan said the country's military would stand ready in the face of threats from the Chinese military, adding that its forces have "the ability, determination and confidence to guarantee national security".
Taiwan and China separated in 1949 after a civil war. The self-governing island has never been part of the People's Republic of China, but Beijing sees it as a breakaway province and has declared it will retake it by force if necessary. /VOA
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