Chinese military planes, naval vessels surround Taiwan

By Riyaz ul Khaliq

ISTANBUL (AA) – At least 21 Chinese military aircraft and five naval vessels surrounded Taiwan on Wednesday, the self-ruled island’s Defense Ministry said.

In a statement, the ministry said its armed forces “monitored the situation and responded to these activities.”

Five of the detected aircraft, the ministry added, “had flown on the east part of the median line of the Taiwan Strait and our southwestern air defense identification zone.”

China has increased its military activities around Taiwan, which it views as its “breakaway province,” since US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi led a delegation to visit the island nation of over 24 million people earlier this month.

Earlier in the day, Wang Wenbin, a spokesman for China's Foreign Ministry, told a news conference in Beijing that the Chinese people are "steadfast in defending their core interests."

“We sternly warn the US not to act rashly or create a bigger crisis. Those who play with fire will perish by it,” Wang said in response to comments made by Kurt Campbell, the Indo-Pacific coordinator of the US.

Campbell said last Friday that China “overreacted” to Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan and “used it as a pretext to try to change the status quo” in the Taiwan Strait.

“China has overreacted and its actions continue to be provocative, destabilizing and unprecedented,” he said.

Wang defined Russian President Vladimir Putin’s criticism of Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan as “China-Russia high-level strategic coordination and firm support on issues related to each other's core interests.”

Putin had called Pelosi trip to Taiwan “a carefully planned provocation.”​​​​​​​