&imwidth=800&imheight=600&format=webp&quality=medium "‘Must forcefully counter US...’: China conducts second military drill as Taiwan vows not to ‘provoke’")
China conducted a second live-fire drill around Taiwan on Tuesday (Dec 30) as tensions rise with the island. Beijing has said that the military drills are aimed at simulating a blockade of the self-ruled island’s key ports and assaults on maritime targets. A day earlier, China conducted military exercises across five zones in the waters and airspace near Taiwan. The two-day drills, which have been termed as “Justice Mission 2025” drew condemnation from Taipei as “military intimidation”.
China’s top diplomat said that Beijing would “forcefully counter” large-scale US weapons sales to Taiwan.
“In response to the continuous provocations by pro-independence forces in Taiwan and the large-scale US arms sales to Taiwan, we must of course, resolutely oppose and forcefully counter them,” Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said in a speech on Tuesday.
He added that any attempt to stop China’s unification with Taiwan “will inevitably end in failure.”
Meanwhile, Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te has vowed on Tuesday that his territory would not “provoke” or “escalate the conflict”.
“In response to the Chinese authorities’ disregard for international norms and the use of military intimidation to threaten neighbouring countries, Taiwan expresses its strong condemnation,” Taiwan’s Presidential Office spokeswoman Karen Kuo said in a statement a day earlier.
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Rockets fired, 130 aircraft near Taiwan
Taiwan said on Tuesday that it detected 130 Chinese military aircraft near the island within 24 hours. It also said that a total of 14 Chinese navy ships and eight unspecified vessels were spotted.
On Monday (Dec 29), the Chinese People's Liberation Army Eastern Theater Command said in a statement that it was “employing destroyers, frigates, fighters, bombers and unmanned aerial vehicles” during the drill code-named ‘Justice Mission 2025’, which includes “live-fire training on maritime targets to the north and southwest of Taiwan.”
The activities will focus on “sea-air combat readiness patrol, joint seizure of comprehensive superiority, blockade on key ports and areas, as well as all-dimensional deterrence outside the island chain,” Senior Colonel Shi Yi said.
The drills are “a stern warning against ‘Taiwan Independence’ separatist forces, and... a legitimate and necessary action to safeguard China's sovereignty and national unity,” Shi added.
