China ended two days of war exercises around Taiwan, in which it simulated attacks with bombers and practiced boarding ships, the Taipei Ministry of Defense said this Saturday (05/25/2024), denouncing an increase in the number of planes and Chinese warships involved in the maneuvers.
CCTV-7, the state channel dedicated to military news, later confirmed in an official commentary that the drills concluded on Friday. Meanwhile, the People’s Liberation Army Daily said that they had lasted two days, from Thursday to Friday, as had already been announced.
China’s Defense Ministry did not respond to calls from Reuters seeking comment on Saturday.
The Chinese military said the maneuvers launched around Taiwan would test its ability to seize power on the self-governing island claimed by Beijing.
Dozens of planes crossed the Strait line
In the two days of military maneuvers, 111 military aircraft and dozens of ships surrounded this democratically governed island, according to the Taipei Ministry of Defense. At least 46 of these Chinese military aircraft crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait during the maneuvers on Friday, the ministry detailed.
The exercises began three days after the new Taiwanese president, Lai Ching-te, took office with a speech denounced by China as a “confession of independence.”
Chinese Defense Ministry spokesman Wu Qian on Friday accused Lai of “pushing our compatriots in Taiwan into a dangerous war situation.”
“Every time (the movement supporting) ‘Taiwan independence’ provokes us, we will go one step further with our countermeasures, until we achieve the complete reunification of the homeland,” the spokesperson warned.
The device is part of a campaign to escalate China’s military pressure on this island with a democratic regime, with almost daily incursions by ships and planes in its surroundings and several large-scale exercises since 2022.
jc (reuters, afp)
