TAIPEI: China deployed planes and ships to encircle Taiwan on Monday ( Oct 14), in drills Beijing said were aimed at sending a” stern warning” to” separatist” forces on the self-ruled island.
Beijing’s drills on Monday represent its third round of extensive war games in the last two years, and it has not ruled out using force to impose Taiwan.
The United States said China’s steps were “unwarranted” and danger “escalation” as it called on Beijing to work with caution.
Chinese President Lai Ching-te, who took business in May, has been more vocal than his father Tsai Ing-wen in defending Taiwan’s independence, angering Beijing, which calls him a” dissident”.
Taiwan condemned the latest activities as “irrational and controversial” and said it has dispatched “appropriate causes” in reply.
According to Taiwan’s defense department, Taipei’s neighboring islands were “on heightened call” and “aircraft and ships will react to army situations in accordance with the wedding rules.”
Four warrior planes flew on Monday near the Hsinchu air force base in the northeast of Taiwan, according to AFP reporters.
Beijing criticized its activities as a” stern reminder to the separatist actions of” Taiwan Independence” forces.
The training, dubbed Joint Sword-2024B, “test the combined operations features of the theatre service’s troops”, said Captain Li Xi, spokeswoman for the Chinese government’s Eastern Theater Command.
They are taking place in “areas to the northwest, south and east of Taiwan Island”, he said.
The training are “focusing on topics of sea-air combat-readiness guard, embargo on crucial ports and areas”, Li said.
Additionally, they carried out an “assault on sea and earth targets.”
Fighter planes and vessels had been deployed, Foreign state media said.