The US Speaker visit led to military drills in Taiwan by China
China’s Military Intimidation against Taiwan: After the Taiwanese President Visited the US House of Representatives, Speaker Kevin McCarthy, retaliated
After the president of Taiwan met the speaker of the US house of representatives, China said it would start military exercises around the island.
Those drills were the first time China had fired missiles over the island, and many experts saw them as representing a major escalation of China’s military intimidation against Taiwan.
The drills come a day after Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen returned from a 10-day visit to Central America and the United States where she met US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
In the last few years, the Chinese Communist Party has sent ships and aircraft to harass the region. The Taiwanese defense ministry said that the president’s visit and transit to the United States had damaged peace, stability and security.
Some of the missiles fell into the Exclusive Economic Zone near Japanese islands to the north of Taiwan, which was seen as a move that increased tensions between Beijing and Tokyo.
The August exercises involved many Chinese warplanes crossing into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone as well asPLA Navy warships maneuvers in the waters around Taiwan.
BEIJING — China sent warships and dozens of fighter jets toward Taiwan on Saturday, the Taiwanese government said, in retaliation for a meeting between the U.S. House of Representatives speaker and the president of the self-ruled island democracy claimed by Beijing as part of its territory.
Speaker Kevin McCarthy met with President Tsai Ing-wen in California as part of a string of foreign lawmakers who have met her to show their support for her. Beijing imposed a travel ban and financial sanctions against groups and individuals from the US in response to the US visit.
Separatist actions against Taiwan: a joint effort between the Taiwan Independence Mission and the Taiwan High-Energy Operation (TAIHAF)
On Saturday, eight warships and 42 planes were detected near Taiwan, 29 of which crossed the middle line of the strait that separates the island from the mainland, the island’s Ministry of Defense said. The planes included J-10, J-11, and J-16.
Fighter jets and bombers have been flown nearby and missiles have been fired into the sea to intimidate the island.
“We will never leave room for ‘Taiwan independence’ separatist activities in any form and will definitely take resolute measures to defeat any foreign interference,” said a spokesperson for the Cabinet’s Taiwan Affairs Office, Zhu Fenglian, according to the official Xinhua News Agency.