China Stages More Drills Near Taiwan as US Lawmakers Visit
The Chinese military said it carried out more exercises near Taiwan on Monday as a group of U.S. lawmakers visited the self-ruled island and met President Tsai Ing-wen, who said her government was committed to maintaining stability.
The five U.S. lawmakers, led by Senator Ed Markey, arrived in Taipei on an unannounced visit late on Sunday, the second high-level group to visit following that of U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in early August, which set off several days of Chinese war games.
The Chinese regime claims sovereignty over democratically governed Taiwan, despite Taiwan being a de facto independent country, with its own military, democratically-elected government, and constitution.
The Chinese military unit responsible for the area adjacent to Taiwan, the Chinese army’s Eastern Theatre Command, said it had organized multi-service joint combat readiness patrols and combat drills in the sea and airspace around Taiwan on Monday.
The exercises were “a stern deterrent to the United States and Taiwan continuing to play political tricks and undermine peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait”, it added.
The theatre command said the exercises took place near Taiwan’s Penghu islands, which are in the Taiwan Strait and are home to a major air base, and showed close up video of the islands taken by a Chinese air force aircraft.
Tsai, meeting the lawmakers in her office, said the Chinese regime’s exercises had greatly affected regional peace and stability.
“We are engaging in close cooperation with international allies to closely monitor the military situation. At the same time we are doing everything we can to let the world know that Taiwan is determined to safeguard stability and the status quo in the Taiwan Strait,” she said, in video footage provided by the presidential office.
Markey told Tsai that “we have a moral obligation” to do everything to prevent an unnecessary conflict.
“Taiwan has demonstrated incredible restraint and discretion during challenging times,” he added.
Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said 15 Chinese aircraft had crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait on Monday, an unofficial barrier between the two, adding it condemned the Chinese regime’s new drills and would “calmly” face them.
https://www.ntd.com/china-stages-more-drills-near-taiwan-as-us-lawmakers-visit_825026.html