(ANSA) — BEIJING, APRIL 08 — The Chinese army today announced “combat readiness exercises” in the Taiwan Strait amid tensions with the island after a meeting of its President Tsai Ing-wen in the United States and the Third Bureau in the United States United States state.
“The Eastern Operations Command of the People’s Liberation Army will hold a preparatory exercise in the Taiwan Strait, north and south of the island and airspace east of Taiwan from April 8 to 10,” the Chinese army said in a statement. Those maneuvers would also include “police patrols,” the Beijing note adds. The exact location of the exercises is not specified. For its part, Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said it had spotted 13 aircraft and three warships around the island.
The narrowest part of the strait between the Chinese coast and Taiwan is about 130 kilometers wide. China regards the island of 23 million as one of its provinces that it has still not been able to reunite with its national territory since the end of the Chinese civil war. The conflict, which ended in 1949, pitted the communists, who eventually took power in mainland China, against the nationalist army, which was forced to retreat to the island.
Chinese authorities have sought to diplomatically isolate Taipei since President Tsai Ing-wen came to power in 2016 because she is a member of a party traditionally pro-independence, an absolute red line for Beijing.
After Wednesday’s meeting in the US with US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, China sent warships, a helicopter and a fighter jet into the Taiwan Strait yesterday and the day before. (HAND).
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