China today said it is taking “necessary measures” to protect its sovereignty and will not tolerate “separatist“ activity at a time when Taiwan announced another increase in the flights of Chinese military aircraft around the island and called on Beijing to stop the provocations, reported Reuters, quoted by BTA.
Beijing's armed forces have not yet commented on the military activity and have not confirmed whether they are conducting exercises.
A senior Taiwanese official said they believe the increased activity is intended to send a political message to the administration of US President-elect Donald Trump.
Reuters quoted a diplomat in the region as saying the scale and scope of China's ongoing operations, including the number of troops deployed, were “unheard of” in recent years.
China, which considers democratically-ruled Taiwan part of its territory, is expected to launch military exercises to show its displeasure with President William Lai's three-nation Pacific tour that ended Friday and included stops on US soil - in Hawaii and Guam.
In no case will we leave things unanswered. We are taking the necessary measures to resolutely protect the country's sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Chinese Taiwan Affairs Office spokeswoman Zhu Fenliang said in response to a question about the increased military activity. She added that the Chinese government is “monitoring with caution the tendency of Taiwan separatist forces to cooperate with outside powers”.
Taiwan's Defense Ministry said today it had detected 53 military aircraft around the island in the past 24 hours, as well as 11 warships and eight “official“ the vessel, as it calls vessels by ostensibly civilian agencies such as the Coast Guard.
Presidential spokeswoman Karen Ko said China's military activity was a “gross violation” of regional stability and that Beijing should immediately stop all “provocative actions”. Taiwanese presidents traditionally travel abroad and “Taiwan's normal international exchange with other countries is no excuse for China's provocations,”, she added.