Taiwan’s foreign ministry on Monday accused China of undermining “peace and stability” in the region, after Beijing ended military maneuvers around the self-governing island. China “deliberately uses military exercises to undermine peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait,” the ministry said, adding that Taipei would maintain close ties with the United States “to jointly deter authoritarian expansion. “.
On the last day of such maneuvers on Monday, Taiwan detected 12 warships and 91 aircraft around the island on Monday, the Defense Ministry said. “If the command of the Eastern Theater of Operations (of the Chinese army) announced the end of its exercise, the army will never relax its efforts to strengthen its combat readiness,” said the Taiwanese Ministry of Defense in a statement. a statement, stating that these Chinese planes and warships were detected at 6 p.m. Taipei time on Monday.
Chinese military command says ‘combat ready’
For its part, Beijing welcomed these maneuvers, carried out “successfully”. China’s military command has “extensively tested its ‘joint’ combat capability under real-life conditions, saying it is “ready for combat, at any time, and resolved to crush any form of separatism for the independence of China.” Taiwan and attempted foreign interference”.
Denounced by Taiwan and the United States, which called for “restraint” while deploying a destroyer in waters claimed by Beijing, these maneuvers received support from Russia on Monday. Started on Saturday, the Chinese maneuvers were aimed at protesting against a meeting Wednesday of Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen with the Speaker of the American House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy.
They “serve as a serious warning against collusion between separatist forces seeking ‘Taiwan independence’ and outside forces, as well as their provocative activities”, warned a spokesman for the Chinese army, Shi Yi. The objective was to simulate a “closure” of the territory of 23 million inhabitants claimed by Beijing, explained the Chinese army. And in particular an “air blockade”, according to state television CCTV.