Taiwan reports being surrounded by 153 Chinese military aircraft during exercises | Conflict messages

Exercises Increase Regional Tensions, Taipei Warns; US condemns war games as it launches exercises with Philippines.

According to the self-governing island’s defense ministry, Taiwan detected 153 aircraft surrounding its territory as China conducted massive military exercises.

The “increase in fighter aircraft activity” resulted in a record number of aircraft being spotted in the 25 hours to 6am on Tuesday (2200 GMT Monday), the Defense Ministry said in a statement. China’s war maneuvers have once again increased tensions with the island and in the entire region, it said.

Beijing used fighter jets, drones, warships and coast guard ships to encircle Taiwan on Monday. Taipei said it responded by deploying “appropriate forces” and putting its offshore islands on heightened alert.

The Defense Ministry said 90 of the Chinese aircraft were spotted within Taiwan’s air defense identification zone.

‘Nonsense’

Beijing considers Taiwan part of its territory and has said it would never rule out taking it by force.

China said the one-day exercise, dubbed “Joint Sword-2024B,” was a warning against “separatist acts.” The war games followed a National Day speech by Taiwanese President William Lai Ching-te last week, which Beijing denounced.

Lai said in the speech that China has no right to represent Taiwan and declared its commitment to “resist annexation or encroachment.”

“This is a decisive punishment for Lai Ching-te’s continued fabrication of nonsense about ‘Taiwan independence,'” China’s Taiwan Affairs Office said in a statement.

attract attention

Taiwan Prime Minister Cho Jung-tai said the maneuvers were a concern not only for Taipei but for the entire region.

“Any exercise without warning will severely disrupt peace and stability across the region,” he told reporters. “China’s exercises not only affect Taiwan’s neighborhood, but also seriously affect the overall international navigation rights and air and sea space, thus attracting the attention of other countries.”

Taiwan’s presidential office called on China to “cease military provocations that undermine regional peace and stability and to stop endangering Taiwan’s democracy and freedom.”

The United States, an ally of the self-ruled island, expressed concern even as it launched its own war games in the disputed South China Sea.

The Pentagon called China’s exercises “irresponsible, disproportionate and destabilizing.”

However, thousands of US and Filipino Marines began 10-day joint exercises on Tuesday in the Philippines, which is also at loggerheads with China.

The focus of the exercises is on defending the northern coast of the main Philippine island of Luzon, which is about 800 km (500 miles) from Taiwan.