China will hold “combat readiness patrols” and exercises in the Taiwan Strait and to the north, south and east of Taiwan. - Reuters
BEIJING/TAIPEI (dpa): China's military said on Saturday it launched three days of military exercises around Taiwan, after the leader of the self-ruled island infuriated Beijing by visiting the United States.
The exercises are being held "according to plan" to the north, south and east of Taiwan, a statement by the People's Liberation Army (PLA) said, providing no further details.
Taiwan said the military would "defend our country" and that assets had been redeployed.
Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen met Speaker of the US House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy for talks in California on Wednesday.
The meeting between Tsai and the senior Republican lawmaker was the first of its kind on US soil. She returned to Taiwan on Friday night.
Beijing denounced the visit and promised to retaliate. On Friday, the Chinese government announced sanctions against US organizations which hosted the Taiwanese leader during her trip.
Tsai stopped in the US on her return from Central America, where she met the leaders of Guatemala and Belize. The White House insists her time in the US was not an official visit.
Beijing regards Taiwan as part of China and rejects any official contact between other countries and Taipei.
China has previously raised the prospect of taking the island by force if necessary, with the US threatening to take action if that happens. Taiwan is a self-governing democracy and has long seen itself as independent.
A visit to Taiwan in August by McCarthy's predecessor, the veteran Democrat Nancy Pelosi, prompted China to stage its biggest live-fire drills in the waters around Taiwan in years.
Following Beijing's announcement of the drills, Taiwan's Ministry of National Defence said armed forces "monitored the situation and responded accordingly with our assets to defend our country."
The ministry said that as of 6 am (GMT 2200 Friday), 13 PLA warplanes and three vessels around Taiwan were detected in the last 24 hours.
Taiwan's armed forces "have monitored the situation and tasked combat air patrol aircraft, Navy vessels, and land-based missile systems to respond these activities."
