China holds large-scale military drills near Taiwan
The Chinese military held large-scale joint combat strike drills starting on Sunday (January 8), sending warplanes and navy vessels toward Taiwan, the Chinese and Taiwanese defence ministries said.
The exercises coincided with the visit of a group of German lawmakers who landed in Taiwan on Monday morning.
The exercises continued into Monday, Taiwan’s defence ministry said, as it monitored Chinese warplanes and navy vessels on its missile systems.
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China’s actions have severely disrupted the peace and stability in the Taiwan Straits and surrounding waters,” the ministry said.
The German lawmakers will meet Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen as well as Taiwan’s National Security Council head and the Mainland Affairs Council, which handles issues related to China.
Chinese pressure tactics
China has stepped up its pressure on Taiwan’s military in recent years by sending warplanes or navy vessels on an almost-daily basis toward the self-ruled island.
Also read: China sends 39 warplanes, 3 ships toward Taiwan in 24 hours
China claims sovereignty over the island, which split from the mainland in 1949 after a civil war.
Over the course of 24 hours between 6 a.m. Sunday to 6 a.m. Monday morning, China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) flew 57 warplanes and four ships toward Taiwan, Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defence said in a statement on Monday.
Twenty-eight of those planes crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait, an unofficial boundary that both sides had previously stood by.
China’s aim
China announced the drills around 11 p.m. Sunday, saying their primary target was to practice land strikes and sea assaults, according to a statement from Shi Yi, a spokesperson for the PLA’s Eastern Theatre Command.
At the end of December, China sent a record 71 planes and 7 ships toward Taiwan, the largest such scale exercise in 2022.
Taiwan will hold its annual two-day military drills starting on Wednesday.
The exercise ahead of Lunar New Year holidays is aimed at showcasing its defence capabilities.
(With Agency inputs)
