China staged military maneuvers surrounding Taiwan on Saturday as a stern warning in response to the island’s vice president, William Lai, visiting the United States.
Lai, the candidate for Taiwan’s presidential election next year, stopped in New York before continuing to Paraguay, one of a dwindling number of countries that recognize Taipei globally.
On Saturday, China dubbed Lai a troublemaker and threatened to take decisive measures to safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity.
According to military spokeswoman Shi Yi, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theatre Command launched joint air and sea patrols and military exercises of the navy and air force around the island of Taiwan.
The drills, the scale of which was not immediately known, were intended to put the PLA’s capabilities to seize control of air and sea spaces and fight in real combat conditions to the test.
They were also meant to be a stern warning to the collusion of ‘Taiwan independence’ separatists with foreign elements and their provocations, according to the statement.
China claims Taiwan and has stated that it will use force to capture it.
China began extensive military exercises after Nancy Pelosi, then House Speaker, visited Taiwan last year, and later when President Tsai Ing-wen met with crucial US politicians while transiting through the country.
Washington has urged for calm in the wake of Lai’s transit, calling it as usual.
However, an official from the ruling Communist Party’s Taiwan Work Office strongly condemned Lai’s travel on Saturday, calling it a new provocative move by his party, the DPP, to further collude with the US.
“Lai’s latest stopover was a disguise he used to sell out Taiwan’s interests to seek gains in the local election through dishonest moves”, the official stated.
During the tour, Lai pledged to resist annexation and to support Tsai’s key values.
Lai has been even more vocal about independence than Tsai, whom Beijing already considers unfriendly because she refuses to recognize Beijing’s stance that Taiwan is a part of China.
Previously, the Harvard-educated doctor turned politician called himself a pragmatic Taiwan independence worker.
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