The Chinese army announced today, Saturday, the launch of military exercises for the navy and air forces around the island of Taiwan, describing the exercises as a “stern warning” to it.
According to Xinhua, the military Spokesman, Shi Yi, said that these exercises aim to test the army’s ability to “control air and sea space” and fight “in real battle conditions.”
He explained that these exercises serve as “a stern warning of the complicity of Taiwan separatists demanding independence with foreign elements,” as he put it.
On the other hand, the Taiwanese Ministry of Defense announced in a statement that it “detected 42 fighters and 8 Chinese ships around Taiwan, at 9 am local time.”
The statement added: “Taiwan’s National Defense Forces have monitored the situation and assigned combat aircraft belonging to the Air Force and naval ships and land-based missile systems to address these activities.”
This comes in the wake of the short visit of William Lai, Vice President of Taiwan, to the United States, where China has expressed its strong opposition to any visit by what it described as “Taiwan independence” separatists to Washington in any name, or under any pretext.
Tensions escalated between China and the United States over Taiwan), after the former Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, visited Taipei in August 2022, which Beijing denounced, and considered it interference in the country’s internal affairs.
Source: National Iraqi News Agency