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BEIJING: China began combat drills near the Taiwan Strait on Friday (September 18), the same day that a senior US official began high-level meetings in Taipei, as Beijing denounced the closer ties between Taiwan, claimed by China, and the United States.
Beijing has watched with growing alarm the increasingly close relationship between Taipei and Washington, and has intensified military exercises near the island, including two days of massive air and sea drills last week.
Chinese Defense Ministry spokesman Ren Guoqiang said Friday’s drills, which he did not elaborate on, were taking place near the Taiwan Strait and involved the eastern theater command of the People’s Liberation Army.
LEE: China says military exercises near Taiwan were a ‘necessary action’
“They are a reasonable and necessary action aimed at the current situation in the Taiwan Strait and protecting national sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Ren said.
Taiwan is a purely internal Chinese affair that does not admit foreign interference, he added.
“Recently, the US authorities and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) have intensified their collusion, frequently creating unrest,” Ren said, referring to Taiwan’s ruling party.
Trying to “use Taiwan to control China” or “rely on foreigners to rebuild itself” is an illusion and is doomed to become a dead end, he added.
“Those who play with fire will burn,” he said.
The Taiwanese government did not immediately respond.
Taiwan’s Liberty Times newspaper said Taiwan’s air force planes flew 17 times on Friday morning for four hours, warning the Chinese air force to stay away.
It also showed an image of missiles loaded onto an F-16 at Hualien Air Base on the east coast of Taiwan.
READ: China says it will give a ‘necessary response’ to a US official’s visit to Taiwan
China’s announcement came as US Under Secretary for Economic Affairs Keith Krach began the first full day of his visit to Taiwan quietly, with no open media events on his schedule.
He will meet with President Tsai Ing-wen later in the day, and on Saturday he will attend a memorial service for the late President Lee Teng-hui.
China had threatened to provide a “necessary response” to the trip, straining the already poor ties between Beijing and Taipei and Washington. Sino-US relations have plummeted ahead of the November US presidential elections.
Chinese fighter jets briefly crossed the mid-line of the Taiwan Strait last month when U.S. Health Secretary Alex Azar was in Taipei, and last week China conducted two days of large-scale drills off the southwest coast of Taiwan.
The United States, like most countries, only has official ties with China, not with Taiwan, although it is the island’s main arms supplier and the largest international sponsor.
This week, the US ambassador to the United Nations had lunch with Taiwan’s top envoy in New York. The Chinese UN mission said it had made “severe protests” about the meeting.
