China began three days of military exercises around Taiwan on Saturday in a “stern warning” to the “separatist forces” of this self-governing island, after the meeting of its president with the leader of the US House of Representatives.

These moves “serve as a stark warning against collusion between separatist forces seeking ‘Taiwan independence’ and outside forces,” a military spokesman, Shi Yin, said in a statement.

The military exercises that China is carrying out this Saturday in the Taiwan Strait are aimed at the “total siege” of the island, according to Afp ??on Chinese state television.

“Today’s exercise focuses on the ability to seize control of the sea, airspace and information […] in order to create a total deterrence and encirclement” of Taiwan, CCTV said.

The exact location of these operations is unknown. The narrowest part of the Taiwan Strait, between the Chinese coast and the island, is about 130 kilometers long.

According to CCTV, destroyers, missile-launching speedboats, combat planes, tankers and jammers are being mobilized for the exercises.

Taiwan expressed its condemnation of the military maneuvers carried out by Beijing around the island and described them as “an irrational act that endangers regional security and stability,” reports Efe.

The exercises will involve live-fire firing on Monday off the coast of Fujian province, just opposite Taiwan, the regional maritime authority said in a statement.

The announcement comes after the meeting on Wednesday in the state of California (west) between the Taiwanese president, Tsai Ing-wen, and the speaker of the United States House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy.

Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said these exercises “seriously undermine peace, stability and security in the region” and President Tsai denounced Beijing’s “continued authoritarian expansionism.”

China considers this island with a democratic government as part of its territory and opposes any contact between the Taiwanese leadership and representatives of other countries.

Shortly after the controversial meeting, the Chinese Foreign Ministry already warned that it would take “firm and effective measures to safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

After two days of deploying aircraft and ships near the island, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army announced “a combat readiness exercise in the Taiwan Strait” from April 8 to 10.

This exercise will take place “in the maritime areas and airspace of the Taiwan Strait, off the northern and southern coast of the island and to the east of the island,” Shi Yin said, according to the official Xinhua news agency.

These maneuvers were launched hours after the departure from China of French President Emmanuel Macron and the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, who had met with Xi Jinping on Thursday.

The Taiwanese ministry said that on Saturday morning they detected 8 Chinese warships and 42 Chinese combat aircraft around its territory, in the Taiwan Air Identification Zone, of which 29 crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait, which has functioned for decades as an unofficial but tacitly respected border between China and Taiwan, a self-governing island whose sovereignty Beijing claims.

The island’s Ministry of Defense indicated in its official account on the social network Twitter that it has ordered its aircraft, ships and missile systems to “respond to the activities,” reports Efe.

Yet in the closest mainland Chinese spot to Taiwan, the island of Pingtan, tourists seemed oblivious to the new developments, taking portraits facing the sea where freight ships still passed.

Maritime traffic, however, should be interrupted on Monday because the maritime authority issued a warning not to cross the strait due to military maneuvers with live fire.

China staged massive military exercises around the island in August 2022 in response to a visit to Taipei by Nancy Pelosi, McCarthy’s predecessor in the House of Representatives.

The current leader of the US legislature’s lower house also wanted to travel to the island, but ultimately opted for a meeting with Tsai in California as a compromise solution to Beijing’s anger.

The Taiwanese leader made a stopover there after visiting Guatemala and Belize, two of the last official allies of the island, which recently lost Honduras to Beijing.

Right now, only 13 countries in the world recognize Taipei. Among them is not the United States, which, however, is one of Taiwan’s main allies and its main arms supplier.

Back in Taipei, Tsai said Saturday that Taiwan “will continue to work with the United States and other like-minded countries to jointly uphold the values ??of freedom and democracy.”

The day before, the spokeswoman for Chinese diplomacy, Mao Ning, had said that “Taiwan is an inseparable part of China.”

“China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity will never be divided… Taiwan’s future lies in reunification with the motherland,” he added.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project