CHINA LAUNCHES MILITARY DRILLS AROUND TAIWAN – As a warning against separatism
China launched army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan on Tuesday as a “stern warning” against separatism.
State broadcaster CCTV showed footage of the country’s People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Eastern Theater Command launching fighter jets and other planes from a base, as Chinese war vessels were seen sailing at sea.
The CCTV report said once the command reached its “designated sea area”, it performed combat deployment with air formation exercises carried out by the fighter jets.
The exercises around democratically governed Taiwan, which China views as its own territory and has never renounced the use of force to bring under its control, come after Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te called Beijing a “foreign hostile force” last month.
China’s coast guard said it was also taking part in the drills, saying it was simulating “inspection and capture, interception and detention operations against unwarranted vessels” to show its exercise of “legitimate jurisdiction” over Taiwan.
China has staged several rounds of war games around Taiwan since then-U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taipei in 2022.
