Taiwan’s government says it has detected 42 incursions by Chinese warplanes in its air defense zone since Beijing announced the launch of military exercises.
Between these incursions, 26 warplanes crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait, the ministry said. According to the release, 8 Chinese ships also participated in the maneuvers, which Beijing said were aimed at simulating “real combat conditions”. The Taiwanese ministry said “the national army is monitoring and using reconnaissance methods to strictly control” the situation, adding that it had sent planes and ships.
The patrols and drills serve as a stark reminder of the “Taiwan independence” separatists’ collusion with foreign elements and their provocations, command spokesman Shi Yi said. The maneuvers are intended to train the coordination of military ships and aircraft and their ability to take control of air and sea spaces, Shi explained, stressing that the ability of the armed forces to operate in real combat conditions will be tested.
Taiwan has strongly condemned China’s military maneuvers, launched today by Beijing after a stopover in the United States by Taiwanese vice president William Lai. The Taipei Defense Ministry “strongly condemns this irrational and provocative behavior, and will send adequate forces to respond to it in order to defend Taiwan’s freedom, democracy and sovereignty.” “Conducting a military exercise under a false pretext not only does not contribute to peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, but also highlights China’s militaristic mentality and confirms the hegemonic nature of military expansion,” Beijing said in a statement. of the Taipei dicastery.
Lai stopped in New York and San Francisco after a visit to Paraguay, one of the few countries that officially recognizes Taiwan. This trip aroused the ire of China, which opposes any official contact between Western countries with the Taiwanese island, which it considers its province. Beijing believes such contacts legitimize the Taipei authorities and undermine its claims to sovereignty over Taiwan. Washington had called for calm on Lai’s trip, which according to the Taiwanese authorities was only a “transit” on American soil to go to Paraguay and attend the inauguration of the elected president Santiago Peña. But an official at the Communist Party of China’s office in charge of Taiwan affairs “strongly condemned” Lai’s trip as “another provocation” to “strengthen collusion with the United States.”