On Saturday, China began conducting military exercises surrounding Taiwan as a “stern warning” after expressing displeasure over the island’s vice president, William Lai, visiting the United States.
Lai, the front-runner in Taiwan’s upcoming presidential election, visited New York before traveling to Paraguay, one of the few countries left that still recognize Taipei diplomatically, and then returned through San Francisco.
Lai was referred to as a “troublemaker” by China on Saturday, and the country pledged to take “decisive measures… to safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
The Eastern Theatre Command of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army “launched joint air and sea patrols and military exercises of the navy and air force around the island of Taiwan” on Saturday, state media outlet Xinhua quoted military spokesperson Shi Yi as saying.
Xinhua said the drills, the scale of which was not immediately known, were meant to test the PLA’s ability “to seize control of air and sea spaces” and fight “in real combat conditions”.
They were also intended to serve as “a stern warning to the collusion of ‘Taiwan independence’ separatists with foreign elements and their provocations”, it added.
Taiwan on Saturday said it strongly condemned “such irrational and provocative behaviour” and said it would dispatch “appropriate forces” to respond “with practical actions”.
“Conducting a military exercise this time under a pretext not only does not help the peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, but also highlights (China’s) militaristic mentality and confirms the hegemonic nature of its military expansion,” Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defence said in a statement.
