China on Wednesday announced that it has concluded its military drills after more than a week-long training near Taiwan, simulating an attack on the self-ruled island.
The PLA Eastern Theater Command said it had successfully completed various missions during recent drills around Taiwan and effectively tested the troops’ joint operation combat capacity, state media outlet Global Times reported. The command will regularly organize combat readiness patrols in the Taiwan Strait, it added.
On Tuesday, Taiwan’s Foreign Minister Joseph Wu said China used the military drills to influence the international community’s freedom of navigation in the waters and airspace of the Taiwan Strait and to prepare for an invasion.
Addressing an international press conference, Wu said China’s decision to carry out military exercises in areas surrounding Taiwan is a gross violation of Taiwan’s rights under international law and gravely threatens regional peace and security.
“…China has used the drills in its military playbook to prepare for the invasion of Taiwan. It is conducting large-scale military exercises and missile launches, as well as cyberattacks, disinformation, and economic coercion, in an attempt to weaken public morale in Taiwan,” he said.
Justifying its large-scale military drills and airspace violations in the East and South China sea, China on Tuesday said that after Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan, the country is now preparing itself for every possible scenario.
Chinese Foreign Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying said that Pelosi’s Taiwan visit is a major provocation that upgraded US-Taiwan relations and a real threat to China’s sovereignty & territorial integrity adding that China has to prepare itself for every possible scenario.
Commenting on the US foreign policy on Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan and NATO eastward expansion, she questioned if US believed in the basic principles itself.
Amid rising Chinese aggression, Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said that the country is involved in robust training to respond to the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) which is continuing its military drills and demonstrating that it is a threat to the neighbouring region.