On Monday China carried out what it described as routine yet “necessary drills” around Taiwan involving warships and military aircraft. Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen on Tuesday said that the military manoeuvres “threaten Taiwan and other-like minded countries in the region,” but emphasized that Taiwan’s military has “the capacity, determination, and commitment to defend Taiwan and not allow coercion to dictate our own future.” Tsai also thanked the US government for a recent arms sale and for providing military training for Taiwanese pilots.
While Monday’s exercises were planned, annual drills, China has been ramping up its military activity near the Taiwan Strait that separates Taiwan from China as a way of pushing back against US maritime activity in the region and its support for Taiwan. Earlier this year, Tsai warned that her country faces a rising Chinese threat to its “independent existence, security, prosperity and democracy.” While Taiwan is an autonomous state, it has never formally declared independence from China, which considers the island part of it’s sovereign territory.
Read more: Taiwan ‘threatened’ but not intimidated by China military drills
