Taiwan’s foreign minister tells CNN that China is getting ready to launch a war against Taiwan

China’s Operation Joint Sword (JOS) is preparing to conduct Air and Missile Forces against Taiwan and the Southern Hemisphere

For the first time, the Chinese navy appears to have simulated strikes by aircraft carrier-based warplanes on Taiwan, as drills around the island wrapped up on their third day.

After the drills commenced, Beijing described them as “a serious warning against the Taiwan separatist forces’ collusion with external forces, and a necessary move to defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

Taiwan’s Ministry of Defense reported on Monday that during the past 24 hours four J-15 fighter jets had crossed into the southeastern portion of the island’s air defense identification zone – a self-declared buffer that extends beyond the island’s airspace.

Meanwhile, the Japan Joint Chiefs of Staff confirmed in a press release that Japanese forces had observed 80 fixed-wing aircraft take-offs and landings during the Chinese exercises from the Chinese aircraft carrier Shandong, which was in the Pacific Ocean east of Taiwan and about 230 kilometers (143 miles) south of the Japanese island of Miyako in Okinawa prefecture.

Chinese state broadcaster CCTV reported on Monday that the Eastern Theater Command of the PLA was continuing military drills around Taiwan as part of its Operation Joint Sword that began two days earlier.

Monday’s drills focused on practicing the blockades and ambush assaults on enemy mooring vessels in the Taiwan Strait as well as northwest, southwest and east of Taiwan.

“As is always the case with PLA exercises in the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea areas, Beijing is telling the US, regional countries, Taiwan and its own people, that the PLA has the capability to conduct blockade and joint air and missile strikes on targets in and around Taiwan,” he said.

It said in a statement later it had completed the military exercises and “comprehensively tested joint combat capabilities of its integrated military forces under actual combat situation.”

“Forces in the command is ready for combat at all times, and will resolutely destroy any type of ‘Taiwan independence’ separatist or foreign interference attempts,” the statement added.

The United States is willing to play defense against the Taiwan separatists: As President Tsai did in Taiwan, Taiwan’s military exercises were on high alert

Taiwan and China have been governed separately since the end of a civil war more than seven decades ago, in which the defeated Nationalists fled to Taipei. Taiwan transitioned from authoritarian rule to a democracy in the 1990s and is now ranked one of the freest jurisdictions in Asia by Freedom House, a US-based non-profit organization.

Analyst Carl Schuster, a former director of operations at the US Pacific Command’s Joint Intelligence Center, said the PLA was “practicing and probably refining the aerial coordination and joint operations required to initiate a blockade of Taiwan’s ports and air lanes.”

The US, through the Taiwan Relations Act, is legally obligated to provide Taiwan with defensive weaponry, but officials typically remain deliberately vague on whether the US would defend Taiwan in the event of an attempted Chinese attack.

“President Tsai’s visit became their excuse to conduct exercises and their actions have severely jeopardized the security of the surrounding region,” he said, adding that the island’s air defense units were on “high alert.”

He noted that the United States seems to be more determined than ever in creating a situation so that China is aware that its military attack against Taiwan is going to be associated. And we appreciate the United States for having this posture.”

Beijing described them as “a serious warning against the Taiwan separatist forces’ collusion with external forces, and a necessary move to defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

The costs of a visit to Taiwan cannot be dictated by China, said the CNN interviewer. China can’t say how our friends want to show support for Taiwan.

“We are still trying to figure out what he says and what that means through the French government,” Wu said, though he noted the “French government has been showing support to Taiwan.”