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FUZHOU, China, April 8 (Reuters) – Forty-two Chinese fighter jets flew on Saturday as China began training around Taiwan, angered by President Tsai Ing-wen’s talks with Taiwan’s presidency. It briefly crossed the sensitive center line of the Taiwan Strait. US House of Representatives.
The three-day training, announced a day after Tsai returned from the United States, was widely anticipated after China condemned Tsai’s meeting with Chairman Kevin McCarthy in Los Angeles on Wednesday.
China regards democratically ruled Taiwan as its own territory and has never renounced the use of force to bring the island under its control. The Taiwanese government strongly opposes China’s claims.
Beijing’s announcement also comes hours after China hosted a visit by senior European leaders.
The PLA has said it has launched combat readiness patrols and “joint sword” exercises around Taiwan, and has previously said it will hold them “as planned” in the Taiwan Strait and north, south and east of Taiwan.
“This is a grave warning against the collusion and provocation of the Taiwanese separatist forces and external forces, and a necessary action to safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity,” the Chinese military’s Eastern Theater Command said in a statement. .
Taiwan’s defense ministry said Saturday morning that 42 Chinese fighter jets (J-10s, J-11s and J-16s) crossed the center line, which usually acts as an unofficial batter between the two sides. He said he had found eight Chinese ships.
China is using Tsai’s visit to the United States “as an excuse to conduct military exercises that have seriously damaged regional peace, stability and security,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.
“The military will respond in a calm, reasonable and serious manner, and will conduct guarding and surveillance in accordance with the principle of ‘no escalation and no conflict’ in order to protect national sovereignty and national security,” he said.
Chinese state media released footage of the training, set to martial arts music, showing warships floating at sea and fighter planes refueling mid-air. Reuters could not confirm when or where the material was filmed.
“As expected” situation
There was no widespread alarm about the drills in Taiwan, where people have long been accustomed to the Chinese threat.
China has threatened unspecified retaliation if a meeting with McCarthy, the second-in-largest U.S. presidential successor to the vice president, takes place. Beijing held military exercises around Taiwan that included live-missile launches in August after then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taipei.
A senior Taiwanese official familiar with security planning in the region told Reuters that unlike August, when ships from the two navies were in a stalemate, the aircraft only briefly crossed the center line and the ship had already turned back. Told.
The situation was “predictable” and manageable, and the Taiwanese government has rehearsed various scenarios for its response, the person said on condition of anonymity.
In a seaside area near Fuzhou, on the other side of Taiwan-controlled Matsu Island, a Reuters reporter saw a Chinese warship firing artillery shells at a training area off the coast of China.
Tsai said she looked forward to stepping up security cooperation with the United States on Saturday, hosting a luncheon with a visiting delegation of US lawmakers led by House Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Michael McCaul.
“I would like to reiterate that the people of Taiwan love democracy and seek peace,” she said, though she did not directly mention the training in her comments in front of television cameras.
Tsai has repeatedly offered to meet with China, but has been turned down because the government considers her a separatist. She says that only the people of Taiwan can decide their future.
The People’s Daily, the official organ of the Communist Party of China, said in a commentary on Saturday that the government “has a strong ability to block all forms of Taiwan’s independence and secession.”
“All countermeasures taken by the Chinese government belong to China’s lawful and lawful right to safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity,” he said.
diplomacy and training
Unlike in August, China has not yet announced whether it will also conduct missile exercises. When China announced its previous exercises, it released a map showing which waters in Taiwan’s waters it would attack.
Security sources said April is usually the time for China to hold military exercises.
Taiwanese officials had expected a less harsh reaction, given that the meeting with McCarthy took place in the United States, but said they could not rule out the possibility that China would conduct more drills.
China’s announcement comes hours after French President Emmanuel Macron left China, where he met with President Xi Jinping and other senior leaders. President Macron urged the Chinese government to have a rational talk with Russia about the war in Ukraine.
European Union (EU) Secretary-General Ursula von der Leyen also met with Xi in China this week and said stability in the Taiwan Strait was paramount.
President Xi Jinping said it was “wishful thinking” to expect China to compromise on the Taiwan issue.
China’s defense ministry announced military exercises around Taiwan and posted a photo on its website of President Xi Jinping meeting with President Emmanuel Macron and von der Leyen.
Taiwanese security sources said China’s recent efforts to lure foreign leaders were in vain after the drills were announced.
“Once training in the Straits was announced, all those efforts vanished overnight and turned into futile efforts.”
Reported by Josh Arslan, Fuzhou, China, and Yimou Lee and Ben Blanchard, Taipei.Edited by Diane Kraft and William Mallard
Our standards: Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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