China continues 'military sword' exercises on 2nd day, encircling Taiwan

By Anadolu Staff

ANKARA (AA) – China continued its intense military drills on the second consecutive day, encircling Taiwan on Sunday with fighter jets and warships simulating strikes on the island, officials and local media reported.

Dubbed "military sword," the exercises, which were launched on Saturday in response to Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen’s meeting with US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in California last week, include rehearsing an encirclement of Taiwan.

The three-day drills, launched hours after the departure of French President Emmanuel Macron from China on Saturday, will run until Monday.

Taiwan's Defense Ministry said that at least nine warships and 58 fighter jets were detected taking part in the exercises, which have invited condemnation from Taipei and Washington.

On Saturday, nine ships and more than 70 aircraft took part in the drills around the island.

The ministry, in a statement, said it is monitoring Chinese military movements through "joint intelligence."

Beijing, for its part, said the operations are necessary for "safeguarding China's national sovereignty and territorial integrity."

"These operations serve as a stern warning against the collusion between separatist forces seeking 'Taiwan independence' and external forces and against their provocative activities," said Shi Yin, a spokesman for the Chinese People's Liberation Army.

The Taiwanese president has denounced the drills.

She pledged to work with "the US and other like-minded countries" in the face of what she said continued authoritarian expansionism.

The US State Department said that Washington has "consistently urged restraint and no change to the status quo."

On Monday, the drills will include live-fire drills off the rocky coast of China's Fujian province, about 80 kilometers (50 miles) south of Taiwan's Matsu Islands and 186 kilometers (115 miles) from Taipei.

China views self-ruled Taiwan as its territory.

In its largest show of force in years in August last year, China deployed warships, missiles, and fighter jets around Taiwan following a trip to the island by McCarthy's predecessor, Nancy Pelosi.