Chinese military carried out more exercises near Taiwan to protest US lawmakers’ unannounced visit

 

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China’s military said it carried out more exercises near Taiwan on Monday to protest against an unannounced visit by US lawmakers to Taiwan and their meeting with Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen.

Five US 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 US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi earlier this month.

The People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theatre Command, the Chinese military unit responsible for the area adjacent to Taiwan, said it had organised 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 said.

China’s Defence Ministry said in a statement that the lawmakers’ trip infringed on China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and “fully exposes the true face of the US as a spoiler and spoiler of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait”. “The Chinese People’s Liberation Army continues to train and prepare for war, resolutely defends national sovereignty and territorial integrity, and will resolutely crush any form of ‘Taiwan independence’ separatism and foreign interference.”