China continues military drills around Taiwan

BEIJING — China said Sunday it carried out its fourth consecutive day of military drills in the air and sea around Taiwan following US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to the self-ruled island, despite international calls to calm the tensions.

The People’s Liberation Army said the exercises focused on testing its longrange air and ground strikes. It did not say if it will continue the drills after Sunday.

Taiwan said that it continued to detect several batches of Chinese aircraft, ships, and drones operating around the Taiwan Strait, which separates the island and mainland China, and “simulating attacks on the island of Taiwan and our ships at sea.” Taiwan’s defence ministry said it detected a total of 66 Chinese aircraft and 14 Chinese warships conducting exercises around the Taiwan Strait. In response, Taiwan deployed air patrols, naval ships, and missiles.

Taiwan’s official Central News Agency reported that Taiwan’s army will conduct live-fire artillery drills in Pingtung County on Tuesday and Thursday, in response to the Chinese exercises.

China set up no-go areas around Taiwan for the fourday drills it announced immediately after Pelosi’s trip to Taipei on Tuesday and Wednesday. Pelosi’s visit infuriated Beijing, which saw it as a violation of the “one-China” policy. China claims Taiwan and has threatened to annex it by force if necessary. The two sides split in 1949 after a civil war, but Beijing considers visits to Taiwan by foreign officials as recognizing its sovereignty.