Taipei [Taiwan], April 11: China ended three days of military drills around Taiwan on Monday, saying they had tested integrated military capabilities under actual combat conditions, having practised precision strikes and blockading the island that Beijing views as its own.
Taiwan responded to Beijing's announcement by saying it would "never relax" its efforts to strengthen combat readiness and would closely monitor China's missile forces and movements of the Shandong aircraft carrier. Beijing began the drills on Saturday after Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen returned to Taipei following a meeting in Los Angeles with the US House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy.China has never renounced using force to bring the democratically-governed island under Beijing's control. Taiwan's government strongly disputes China's claims and has denounced the drills. The Chinese military said it had "successfully completed" the exercises and "comprehensively tested" the capabilities of multiple units under actual combat conditions.
"The troops in the theatre are ready to fight all the time and can fight at any time, resolutely crushing any form of Taiwan independence separatism and foreign interference," the Eastern Theatre Command of the People's Liberation Army said in a statement. Chinese state television said earlier on Monday that aircraft, including nuclear-capable H-6 bombers armed with live missiles, and warships staged drills to "form a multi-directional island-encompassing blockade situation". The Eastern Theatre Command said the Shandong had also taken part in combat patrols, showing fighters taking off from the aircraft carrier's deck. Taiwan has tracked the Shandong since last week in the Pacific Ocean.
Taiwan's defence ministry said that as of 1000 GMT on Monday, it had spotted 12 Chinese ships and 91 military aircraft around the island, including carrier-based J-15 fighters flown from Shandong. The Shandong conducted air operations in waters close to Japan's Okinawan islands on Sunday, Japan's defence ministry said on Monday. Jet fighters and helicopters took off and landed on the carrier 120 times from Friday to Sunday, with the carrier, three other warships and a support vessel coming within 230 kilometres (143 miles) of Japan's Miyako island, the defence ministry said.
Japan has been following China's military drills around Taiwan "with great interest", a top government spokesperson said on Monday. Japan has long worried about China's military activities in the area, given how close southern Japanese islands are to Taiwan.
The Japanese island of Okinawa hosts a major US air force base.
Source: Qatar Tribune
