China’s military has carried out aerial and naval blockade drills around Taiwan, its last scheduled day of exercises, with a Chinese aircraft carrier joining in combat patrols as Taipei reported another surge of warplanes near the island.
China announced the three days of drills on Saturday after Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen returned to Taipei following a meeting in Los Angeles with US House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
China views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory and has never renounced the use of force to bring the island under Beijing’s control. Taiwan’s government strongly disputes China’s claims and has denounced the drills.
Chinese state television said aircraft, including nuclear-capable H-6 bombers armed with live missiles, and warships staged drills on Monday to “form a multi-directional island-encompasing blockade situation”.
“In the Taiwan Strait, the northwest and southwest of Taiwan and the waters east of Taiwan (Chinese forces) took the initiative to attack, giving full play to their performance advantages, flexibly manoeuvring to seize favourable positions, and advancing at high speed to deter opponents,” the report said.
The Eastern Theatre Command of the People’s Liberation Army said the aircraft carrier the Shandong also took part in combat patrols, and showed fighters taking off from its deck.
Taiwan has been tracking the Shandong since last week in the Pacific Ocean.
Taiwan’s defence ministry published a map on Monday of the previous 24 hours of Chinese air force activities, showing four carrier-based Chinese J-15 fighters operating over the Pacific Ocean to Taiwan’s east.
The ministry said that as of mid-morning on Monday that it had spotted 59 military aircraft and 11 ships around Taiwan, and that the Shandong carrier group was drilling in the Western Pacific.
The Shandong conducted air operations in waters close to Japan’s Okinawan islands on Sunday, Japan’s defence ministry said on Monday.
Japan had been following China’s military drills around Taiwan “with great interest”, a top government spokesperson said.
The southern Japanese island of Okinawa hosts a major US air force base, and last August when China staged war games to protest the visit of then-US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taipei, Chinese missiles landed within Japan’s exclusive economic zone.
The United States has said it is also watching China’s drills closely.
China’s military simulated precision strikes against Taiwan in the second day of drills around the island on Sunday.
Taiwan’s military has repeatedly said it will respond calmly to China’s drills and not provoke conflict.
The defence ministry separately released pictures on Monday of mobile launchers for the Taiwan-made Hsiung Feng anti-ship missiles at an undisclosed location, as well as missile-armed fast attack boats at sea.
Life in Taiwan has continued normally with no signs of panic or disruption, and civilian flights operating as usual.
By Ben Blanchard and Yimou Lee in Taipei
