China has announced that it will conduct five days of “necessary and just” military exercises in the waters near Taiwan beginning on Thursday. This comes in response to US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to the island, which occurred in defiance of Beijing’s repeated warnings.
The declaration was made by China shortly after Pelosi’s brief and contentious visit to Taiwan on Wednesday, according to a report.
The exercises would include long-range live ammunition shooting and will take place in some of the busiest waterways of the world, China was quoted as saying in the report.
Taiwan responded by claiming that it had already sent out jets to scare them away. Additionally, it has urged ships to take alternate routes to avoid the drills and is talking with Japan and the Philippines, two nearby nations, to find different aviation routes.
The nation was under “deliberately heightened military threats,” according to President Tsai Ing-wen.
Despite China’s warnings against it, Pelosi, the highest-ranking US official to visit Taiwan in 25 years, made the stop on Tuesday as part of a larger Asian tour, according to a report.
China cannot “block world leaders or anybody from travelling to Taiwan to pay homage to its flourishing democracy, to highlight its numerous triumphs, and to reiterate our commitment to continuous collaboration,” the House Speaker said in a statement following her visit.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi claimed that the US was “violating China’s sovereignty under the pretence of so-called democracy,” adding that those who harm China will be punished.
Wang Yi, the foreign minister of China, accused the US of “violating China’s sovereignty under the pretence of so-called democracy,” adding that those who play with fire will suffer the consequences of their actions.
In retaliation for Pelosi’s visit, which it viewed as a “severe provocation and violation” of the one-China principle, the Chinese Foreign Ministry summoned Nicholas Burns, the US ambassador to China, on Wednesday, according to the official publication Global Times.
According to Taiwan’s Defence Ministry, China has flown 21 aircraft into Taiwan’s air defence identification zone on Tuesday itself.
Pelosi had refused for days to confirm rumours in the media that she would travel, and Taiwan was not on her official itinerary. After her few minutes of arrival in Taipei, Pelosi released her opinion piece in an American press regarding the visit.
