PLA drills in Taiwan Straits safeguard national sovereignty
1 2021-04-14 15:11:03CGTN
Editor : Li Yan
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Ma Xiaoguang, spokesman for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, said on Wednesday that the drills conducted by the Chinese People s Liberation Army (PLA) in the Taiwan Straits are aimed at safeguarding national sovereignty and responding to interference by external forces and provocations by Taiwan independence forces.
The spokesman said the drills send a signal that the Chinese mainland is determined to curb Taiwan independence and Taiwan s collusion with the U.S. We are willing to do our utmost to strive for the prospect of peaceful reunification, but will never leave any room for all forms of Taiwan independence secessionist activities, Ma stressed.
BEIJING (Reuters) â China described its military exercises near Taiwan as âcombat drillsâ on Tuesday, hours before the arrival of senior former U.S. officials in Taipei on a trip to signal President Joe Bidenâs commitment to Taiwan and its democracy.
Taiwan has complained over the proximity of repeated Chinese military activity, including fighter jets and bombers entering its air defense zone and a Chinese aircraft carrier exercising off the island, claimed by Beijing.
Twenty-five Chinese air force aircraft including fighters and nuclear-capable bombers entered Taiwanâs air defense identification zone on Monday, the largest reported incursion by Taipei to date.
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Chinese forces are conducting military drills as a message to a delegation of prominent Americans visiting Taiwan at the behest of President Joe Biden.
“The signal given by the military drills is that we are determined to stop Taiwan independence, and stop Taiwan from working with the U.S.,” China’s Taiwan Affairs Office spokesman Ma Xiaoguang said Tuesday. “We are doing it with action.”
A group of former U.S. government officials arrived in Taiwan on Wednesday, led by former Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd, a longtime ally of Biden. Chinese Communist Party officials, who claim sovereignty over Taiwan, sortied 25 warplanes into Taiwan’s air defense zone Monday followed by the launch of a six-day live-fire war-game in the South China Sea, near an island claimed by Taiwan.