By Deutsche Welle (World News) | Created at 2024-11-28 06:11:02 | Updated at 2024-11-28 08:44:02
3 hours ago
Taiwan's military held a drill early on Tuesday with aircraft, ships and air defense missile systems, its Defense Ministry said, ahead of a trip by President Lai Ching-te to the Pacific.
The air drill was conducted for over two hours, starting from 5 am (2200 CET Wednesday), Taiwan's air force command said in a statement.
The statement described the drill as a "battle plan exercise" that would "strengthen the overall effectiveness of air defence operations and to test the response and engagement procedures of the air defense forces."
China claims Taiwan as its own territory and regularly deploys fighter jets, drones and warships around the democratically-ruled island in a bid to keep up military pressure.
Chinese balloons reported
Taiwan has also complained of China flying balloons near the island as part of what it calls a pattern of harassment by Beijing.
On Thursday, Taiwan's Defense Ministry reported that it had detected two Chinese balloons over waters north of the island.
The balloons were sighted in two locations on Wednesday afternoon about 111 kilometers (69 miles) northwest and 163 kilometers north of the port city of Keelung, the ministry said.
Earlier, on Sunday, Taiwan also reported a Chinese balloon over the same waters.
Thirteen Chinese military planes and seven navy vessels were also spotted around the island in the 24 hours to 6:00 am on Thursday, the ministry added.
Lai shoring up allies
Lai — who is called a "separatist" by China — is slated to leave on Saturday for a tour of three Pacific island nations and is likely to make a stopover in the US.
The trip is aimed at bolstering Taipei's waning number of diplomatic allies and is likely to anger Beijing, which denounces any efforts to give Taiwan international legitimacy.
Lai's presidential office said on Wednesday that if China were to use the president's trip as an excuse to launch military exercises, "it would be a blatant provocation of the status quo of peace and stability in the region."
Meanwhile, China said on Wednesday that stopovers like these were "essentially provocative acts that violate the one-China principle".
dvv/zc (AFP, Reuters)
