KYIV. UkraineGate. 15 . August .2022 l World News.
The Chinese military said on Monday it conducted additional exercises near Taiwan, amid a group of U.S. lawmakers visiting the island claimed by the Chinese and meeting with President Tsai Ingwen, which Beijing believes is a violation of its sovereignty .
Details
Five U.S. lawmakers, led by Senator Ed Markey, arrived in Taipei for an unannounced visit late Sunday night. This is the second visit of a group of senior officials – after the visit of US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in early August, which marked the beginning of “Chinese war games”, the publication notes. The group left Taiwan late Monday night.
The Chinese military unit in charge of the area adjacent to Taiwan, the Eastern Combat Zone of the People’s Liberation Army command of China, said on Monday it had organized a multipurpose joint live readiness patrol and combat exercises in the sea and airspace around Taiwan.
The exercises were “a severe deterrent to the United States and Taiwan, which continue to play political stunts and undermine peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait,” the report said.
China’s Defense Ministry said in a separate statement that the lawmakers’ trip violated China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and “fully revealed the true face of the United States as a violator of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.”
“China’s People’s Liberation Army continues to learn and prepare for war, resolutely defends national sovereignty and territorial integrity, and will decisively crush any form of separatism of ‘Taiwan independence’ and foreign intervention,” the statement said.
None of the statements provide details about the training.
Taiwanese Prime Minister Su Zengchang said they would not be stopped by China’s response to such visits by foreign friends.
“We can’t just do nothing because an evil neighbor lives next door, and don’t dare letting visitors or friends in,” he said.
Supplement
Pelosi’s visit angered China, which responded for the first time in history with ballistic missile test launches over Taipei and abandoned some areas of dialogue with Washington, including military talks and on climate change.
China has never rejected the use of force to establish control over Taiwan. Taiwan’s government says the People’s Republic of China has never ruled the island and therefore has no right to claim it, and that its 23 million people alone can decide their future.
Source: Ukrgate
