2 yıl önce

China: Taiwan encirclement drills a 'serious warning'

Military drills around Taiwan have grown more frequent in recent years, accompanied by increasingly aggressive language from the administration of China's Xi Jinping.

Reuters

In response to China's air and sea drills, Taiwan says it will launch an annual large-scale drill jointly with its disaster services and Defense Ministry, as well as local governments.

Recent Chinese air and sea drills simulating an encirclement of Taiwan has been intended as a “serious warning” to pro-independence politicians on the self-governing island and their foreign supporters, China has said, as signs emerged that Beijing will take further action.

On Wednesday, Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense said it tracked 35 flights by People's Liberation Army warplanes within the last 24 hours, and eight navy vessels in the waters surrounding the island.

“There are still some navy ships and airplanes carrying out harassment in the area. We strongly condemn these deliberately threatening and provocative actions that destroy the regional peace and stability,” Sun Li-fang, a spokesperson for Taiwan's Defense Ministry, said at a press briefing on Wednesday.

The three days of large-scale air and sea exercises named Joint Sword that ended on Monday were a response to Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen’s meeting with US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in California last week during a transit visit to the US. China had warned of serious consequences if that meeting went ahead.

The Chinese military issued a threat as it concluded the exercises, saying its troops “can fight at any time to resolutely smash any form of ‘Taiwan independence’ and foreign interference attempts.”

China claims Taiwan as its own territory to be brought under its control by force if necessary and regularly sends ships and warplanes into airspace and waters near the self-ruled island. It defended its recent military actions on Wednesday.

“The People’s Liberation Army recently organised and conducted a series of countermeasures in the Taiwan Strait and surrounding waters, which is a serious warning against the collusion and provocation of Taiwan independence separatist forces and external forces," Zhu Fenglian, a spokesperson for the Cabinet’s Taiwan Affairs Office, said at a biweekly news conference.

Flight restrictions and disaster-preparedness drills

Taiwan's Ministry of Transportation said on Wednesday it had received a notice from China's Civil Aviation Administration that it would set up a control zone to “restrict flights” in parts of northern Taiwan from April 16-18, in effect setting up an area where flights would not be allowed to go.

“On their own, they set up a warning area to control flights within our country's jurisdiction's Taipei Aviation Information Region, using the excuse of aerospace activities,” the Taiwan statement said.

Taiwan said it strongly protested the notice and was able to get China to reduce the flight ban time from three days to 27 minutes on the morning of April 16.

It is unclear what China plans to do at that time.

Taiwan's Defense Ministry said it was looking into the matter but could not provide further details.

Taiwan will also launch an annual large-scale drill on Thursday jointly with its disaster services and Defense Ministry, as well as local governments.

Last year, the government revamped the disaster-preparedness drills to include more wartime scenarios. This year, they said, that trend would continue with war-preparedness to comprise 70 percent of the drills' contents.

SOURCE: AP