BEIJING – The Chinese armed forces will conduct military exercises near Taiwan on Friday in light of a visit by US congressmen to the island, reported Sputnik, quoting the Eastern Theater Command of the People’s Liberation Army of China.
Taiwanese news agency CNA reported that a delegation of six US congressmen, headed by Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Menendez, arrived on the island on Thursday on an unannounced visit for talks with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen and National Defence Minister Chiu Kuo-cheng. In response, Beijing said it firmly opposes any official contact between the US and Taiwan.
“On April 15, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command sent warships, bombers, fighter jets and other forces to organise multi-purpose combat patrols and conduct sea and air exercises in the East China Sea and around the island of Taiwan,” the command said in a statement.
According to the statement, these actions were organised in response to “recent erroneous US signals regarding the Taiwan issue,” and are absolutely useless and very dangerous.
“The one who plays with fire is sure to burn themselves,” the statement added.
In March, Taiwanese Defence Minister Chiu Kuo-cheng said that a war between China and Taiwan would result in a “miserable victory” regardless who wins, and added that no one wants such a war.
Speculations about the US congressmen’s visit to Taipei have circulated over the past two weeks, with the visit initially anticipated last weekend.
Yet after US Speaker for the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi tested positive for COVID-19, the US delegation’s visit to Asia was postponed.
China has repeatedly criticised Washington for maintaining official contacts with Taipei, saying such actions by the US infringe on China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and stoke instability in the region.
Taiwan has been governed independently from mainland China since 1949. Beijing views the island as its province, while Taiwan, which is a territory with its own democratically-elected government, maintains that it is an autonomous country.
