China starts military drills as US official visits Taiwan

BEIJING/TAIWAN: China began combat drills near the Taiwan Strait on Friday, the same day a senior US official began high-level meetings in Taipei, as tensions rose and Beijing denounced tightening ties between Chinese-claimed Taiwan and the US.

Beijing has watched with growing alarm the ever-closer relationship between Taipei and Washington, and has stepped up military exercises near the island, including two days of mass air and sea drills last week.

Chinese Defence Ministry spokesman Ren Guoqiang said Friday’s drills, about which he gave no details, were taking place near the Taiwan Strait and involved the People’s Liberation Army’s eastern theatre command.

“They are a reasonable, necessary action aimed at the current situation in the Taiwan Strait and protecting national sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Ren said.

Taiwan is a purely internal Chinese affair that brooks no foreign interference, he added.

“Recently the US and Democratic Progressive Party authorities have stepped up their collusion, frequently creating disturbances,” Ren said, referring to Taiwan’s ruling party.

Trying to “use Taiwan to control China” or “rely on foreigners to build oneself up” is wishful thinking and doomed to be a dead end, he added.

“Those who play with fire will get burnt,” he said.

Taiwan scrambles fighter jets as tension escalates Taiwan scrambled fighter jets on Friday as 18 Chinese aircraft buzzed the island, including crossing the sensitive mid-line of the Taiwan Strait, in an escalation of tensions as a senior US official held talks in Taipei. China had earlier announced the start of combat drills near the Taiwan Strait, denouncing what it called collusion between the island, which it claims as part of its territory, and the US.

US Undersecretary for Economic Affairs Keith Krach arrived in Taipei on Thursday for a three-day visit, the most senior State Department official to come to Taiwan in four decades — which China had said would prompt a “necessary response”.

Taiwan said 18 Chinese aircraft were involved on Friday, a far larger number than it has previously announced for such encounters.

“September 18, two H-6 bombers, eight J-16 fighters, four J-10 fighters and four J-11 fighters crossed the midline of the TaiwanStrait and entered Taiwan’s southwest ADIZ,” the defence ministry said in an English-language tweet.

“ROCAF scrambled fighters, and deployed air defence missile system to monitor the activities.” The ROCAF, Taiwan’s air force, has scrambled frequently in recent months in response to Chinese intrusions. The ministry showed a map of the flight paths of Chinese jets crossing the Taiwan Strait mid-line, which normally combat aircraft from both sides avoid passing through.