The Chinese Armed Forces kicked off a series of joint Navy-Air Force military exercises around the island of Taiwan on Saturday.
The air and sea patrol maneuvers are aimed at “training the coordination of military ships and aircraft and their ability to seize control of air and sea spaces,” said Shi Yi, spokesman for the People’s Army Eastern Theater Command. Release, reports Xinhua.
The military’s ability to fight under actual combat conditions will be tested, Shi said, adding that the patrols and exercises serve as a “serious warning” against the collusion of “Taiwan independence” separatists with foreign elements. and its provocations.
The exercises come a week after Taiwan’s vice president and top candidate for the 2024 presidential election, William Lai, made a transit stop in the US on his way to Paraguay, where he was headed to attend the inauguration of president-elect Santiago Peña. China filed formal protests with the US over that scale.
Beijing considers Taiwan, which is self-governing with its own administration, an inalienable part of its territory and insists that any negotiations with the island that go beyond the central government violate the key principle of its one-China policy.
Likewise, US President Joe Biden received his South Korean counterpart, Yoon Suk-yeol, and Japanese Prime Minister, Fumio Kishida, at Camp David on Friday, with the aim of consolidating greater unity in the region. from Pacific.
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army intensified its military exercises near Taiwan after the US State Department approved in late June the possible sale of ammunition and logistical supply support to the island for a total value of up to 440 million dollars. The Chinese government has repeatedly stated that US arms sales to Taiwan fuel the island’s separatist intentions and increase regional tension.
Last April, China simulated precision strikes and blocked off the island with a series of military exercises around the territory, after Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen met in Los Angeles with the Speaker of the House of United States Representatives, Kevin McCarthy.
Relations between the US and China remain tense due to the ambiguous position of Washington, which, although it does not diplomatically recognize the independence of Taipei, reserves the right to maintain special ties with the island, which, in its opinion, make their own decisions. with RT
