The Chinese Ministry of Defense has announced that a military exercise is taking place near the Taiwan Strait and involving units of the Chinese Navy and Air Force. “The maneuvers are a logical, necessary action in response to the current situation in the Taiwan Strait, aimed at defending national sovereignty and territorial integrity,” said ministry spokesman Zhongchiang. “Taiwan is a purely internal affair of China, in which no foreign forces may interfere,” he added.
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US Deputy Secretary of Commerce Keith Krach arrived in Taiwan on Thursday and is meeting with Taiwan’s President Chai Jing-wen on Friday. All negotiations take place behind closed doors.
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US Deputy Secretary of Commerce Keith Krach after arriving in Taiwan
Photo: Reuters
A women’s spokesman accused the United States and the ruling Taiwan Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) of conspiracy and said the United States wanted to “use Taiwan to control China.”
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“He who plays with fire will be burned,” Woman warned. The editor of the Chinese state daily Global Times, Hu Xinjin on the social network Weibo, wrote that the exercise is a preparation for an attack on Taiwan, should such an action ever be needed. According to him, the maneuvers will also make it possible to obtain information about Taiwan’s defense systems.
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Taiwanese fighters took off
The Taiwanese Ministry of Defense said that Chinese fighters repeatedly violated Taiwanese airspace on Friday. The local headquarters sent its own fighter jets into the air to monitor Chinese activities, Reuters reported.
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Taiwan considers the island of Taiwan to be an integral part of it and threatens to intervene militarily if it declares independence. Nevertheless, Taiwan has been operating de facto independently since 1949, with its own government and democratic establishment.
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Krach’s visit is the second trip of a representative of the American administration to Taiwan this year. In August, US Secretary of Health Alex Azar visited the island. The chairman of the Czech Senate, Miloš Vystrčil, also visited Taiwan, which outraged Beijing.
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