Taipei

After the Chinese military carried out drills around Taiwan on Saturday (August 19), Taipei accused Beijing of trying to "shape" Taiwan's upcoming election. In a post shared on X, formerly known as Twitter, Taiwanese Foreign Minister Joseph Wu said, "The PRC has made it clear it wants to shape Taiwan's coming national election. Well, it's up to our citizens to decide, not the bully next door."

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Earlier on Saturday, China started military drills around Taiwan in an angry response to Taiwanese Vice President William Lai's visit to the United States.

According to a report by the Xinhua news agency, Chinese military spokesperson Shi Yi said the Eastern Theatre Command of the Chinese People's Liberation Army "launched joint air and sea patrols and military exercises of the navy and air force around the island of Taiwan.

The report said the drills were meant to test the PLA's ability "to seize control of air and sea spaces" and fight "in real combat conditions". The scale of these drills is not yet known.

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By afternoon, Taiwan said that it detected 42 warplane incursions making incursions around the island's air defence zone.

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