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China said on Sunday it had held a fourth straight day of military exercises in the air and at sea around Taiwan, after US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited the self-ruled island, despite international calls for an easing of tensions.
The People’s Liberation Army said the drills focused on testing long-range air and ground strikes. He did not say whether he would resume training after Sunday.
Taiwan said it continued to detect several batches of Chinese aircraft, ships and drones operating around the Taiwan Strait, which separates the island from mainland China, and were “simulating attacks on the island of Taiwan and our ships at sea.” .
Taiwan’s official Central News Agency, meanwhile, said Taiwan’s military will hold live-fire artillery drills in southern Pingtung County on Tuesday and Thursday in response to the Chinese drills.
The exercises will include snipers, combat vehicles, armored vehicles as well as attack helicopters, the report said, citing an unnamed source.
China set up no-go zones around Taiwan for the four-day drills it announced soon after Pelosi’s trip to Taipei on Tuesday and Wednesday angered Beijing, which saw it as a violation of its “one China” policy. China claims Taiwan and has threatened to annex it by force if necessary. The two sides split in 1949 after a civil war, but Beijing sees visits by foreign officials to Taiwan as recognition of its sovereignty.
Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense said its military was monitoring the situation and had dispatched aircraft and ships to respond accordingly.
Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen called on the international community to “support democratic Taiwan” and “stop any escalation of the regional security situation.”
China has so far carried out missile attacks on targets in the seas around Taiwan and has sent warships along the middle line of the Taiwan Strait. He also suspended defense and climate talks with the US and imposed sanctions on Pelosi in retaliation for her visit.
The Biden and Pelosi administrations say the US remains committed to the “one China” policy that recognizes Beijing as the legitimate government but allows informal relations and defense ties with Taipei.
However, the US has criticized Beijing’s actions in the Taiwan Strait, with White House press secretary Karin Jean-Pierre calling them “fundamentally irresponsible”.
“There is no need and no reason for this escalation,” Jean-Pierre said.
Singapore’s Coordinating Minister for National Security, Teo Chee Hean, said in a Facebook post on Saturday that US-China tensions over Taiwan are “an issue that can lead to conflict and war to the detriment of all parties involved, especially the people in Taiwan”.
The tensions are having a negative impact on Southeast Asia, Teo said, adding: “We hope wisdom will prevail.”
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