China Military Exercise: In its continued effort to express discontent over the escalating US-Taiwan ties, China has announced to hold a three-day military exercise around the East Asian country from today (April 8). The People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command made the announcement on Wednesday (April 5) after Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen’s meeting with United States House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
In a brief statement, the Chinese military said it would conduct “combat readiness patrols” and drills “as planned” in the Taiwan Strait and north, south and east of Taiwan. Following a meeting between US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and the island’s president, China threatened retaliation against Taiwan, claiming the US was on a “wrong and dangerous path”.
China warned of consequences
China had earlier warned of unspecified consequences if the meeting took place, in retaliation for then-US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taipei in August 2022 after military exercises were held around Twain. However, Speaker McCarthy hosted President Ing-wen of Taiwan in a show of US support for the self-ruled island, which China claims as its own, along with a bipartisan delegation of more than a dozen US lawmakers.
The Biden administration says there is nothing provocative about Tsai’s trip, the latest of half a dozen visits to the US, yet it comes when US-China relations have historically fallen, to Taiwan US support is one of the main points. difference between the two powers.
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China irritated by US-Taiwan meeting
But the formal setting of the meeting, and the senior ranks of some elected officials in the congressional delegation, could lead China to see this as an escalation. No speaker has met a Taiwanese president on American soil since the US broke off formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan in 1979. In August, then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi traveled to Taiwan to meet with Tsai. China responded with its biggest live-fire exercise in decades, which also included firing missiles at the island.
It is pertinent to mention here that Taiwan and China split at the end of a civil war in 1949 and have no official ties, although they are linked by billions of dollars of trade and investment.
(with AP inputs)