Taiwan Watches Third Day of Chinese Military Exercises
By VOA News April 10, 2023
Taiwan said Monday it is closely monitoring as China carried out a third day of military exercises.
Taiwan's military said China sent dozens of warplanes and 11 warships toward Taiwan as part of the drills that began Saturday.
China's maneuvers come in response to Taiwan's president meeting with U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and other members of Congress in California last week.
The Chinese military said in a statement that the exercises around Taiwan were a "serious warning to the Taiwan independence separatist forces' and external forces' collusion and provocation."
"The operations are necessary for safeguarding China's national sovereignty and territorial integrity," the military said.
Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen denounced the drills, saying Taiwan will continue to work with the United States and other democracies as the island faces "continued authoritarian expansionism" from China.
The United States has a "One China" policy, which acknowledges that Beijing considers Taiwan to be part of China. The U.S. considers Taiwan's status unsettled and sends military aid to the self-governed island to help it defend itself.
U.S. President Joe Biden has frequently said the United States would defend Taiwan militarily if China were to invade, although Washington has maintained that its One China policy has not changed.
Last year, Tsai hosted then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in Taiwan and China reacted by holding its largest live-fire military drills in decades around Taiwan.
Some material for this report came from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
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