Flying high: Residents waiting to cross a traffic intersection near a large screen promoting the PLA Airforce in Beijing. — AP
TAIPEI: The Chinese military held large-scale joint combat strike drills, sending warplanes and navy vessels toward Taiwan, the Chinese and Taiwanese defence ministries said.
The exercises, which started on Sunday, coincided with the visit of a group of German lawmakers who landed in Taiwan yesterday morning.
Leading the delegation is Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, who leads the German Parliament’s Defence Committee.
The exercises continued yesterday, Taiwan’s defence ministry said, monitoring Chinese warplanes and navy vessels on its missile systems.
China’s actions “have severely disrupted the peace and stability in the Taiwan Straits and surrounding waters,” the ministry said.
The German lawmakers were set to meet with Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen, as well as Taiwan’s National Security Council head and the Mainland Affairs Council, which handles issues related to China.
China has stepped up its pressure on Taiwan’s military in recent years by sending warplanes or navy vessels on an almost-daily basis toward the self-ruled island.
China claims sovereignty over the island, which split from the mainland in 1949 after a civil war.
Over the course of 24 hours from Sunday to yesterday morning, China’s People’s Liberation Army flew 57 warplanes and four ships toward Taiwan, Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defence said.
Twenty-eight of those planes crossed the Taiwan Strait’s median line, an unofficial boundary both sides had previously stood by.
China announced the drills late Sunday night, saying their “primary target was to practise land strikes and sea assaults,” said Shi Yi, a spokesperson for the PLA’s Eastern Theater Command.
At the end of December, China sent a record 71 planes and 7 ships toward Taiwan, the largest such scale exercise in 2022.
Taiwan will hold its annual two-day military drills starting tomorrow. The exercise ahead of the Lunar New Year holidays is aimed at showcasing its defence capabilities. — AP
