By Casey Hall and Ben Blanchard
SHANGHAI/TAIPEI, Aug 19 (Reuters) – China launched military exercises around Taiwan on Saturday as a “serious warning” to separatist forces, in an angry but long-awaited response to Vice President William Lai’s visit to the United States, which drew condemnation from Taipei.
Lai, the favorite to become Taiwan’s president in the January elections, returned from the United States on Friday. Officially, he only made a stopover on his round trip to Paraguay, but he made speeches during his stay in the country.
China regards the democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory, despite strong objections from the island’s government.
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Eastern Theater Command said in a brief statement that it was conducting joint combat readiness air and naval patrols around the island.
Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said it had detected 42 Chinese planes and eight ships taking part in exercises around the island since Saturday morning and had deployed ships and planes in response.
Twenty-six Chinese planes crossed the median line of the 100 km-wide Taiwan Strait or areas beyond each end of the line, the ministry said in a statement. For decades, the line has served as an unofficial barrier between the two armies.
The Chinese Army command said it was conducting joint exercises and training of the naval and air forces to test their “actual combat capability.”
“This is a serious warning against Taiwanese separatist forces colluding with outside forces to provoke,” he said.
The command released video footage allegedly taken on Saturday showing J-16 and J-10 fighter jets and a naval destroyer on patrol.
The deployed equipment included destroyers, frigates and fast missile boats, as well as fighters, early warning and jamming planes that “assembled in a predetermined area,” the Chinese command said, without elaborating.
The Taiwanese government strongly condemned the moves, with the Defense Ministry saying it had the necessary capacity, determination and confidence to ensure national security.
The full extent of the maneuvers on Saturday was not immediately clear, and there were no red flags on the streets of Taiwan, long accustomed to threats from China.
“I don’t think there’s a war, I’m not afraid,” said 20-year-old university student Chou Yu-hsuan.
(Reporting by Casey Hall and Ben Blanchard, additional reporting by Fabian Hamacher in Taipei, and Yimou Lee. Editing in Spanish by Javier Leira)
Source: Ambito
