Taiwan’s President in US, China Stages Combat Patrols

By Staff, Agencies

Taiwan’s defense ministry announced that nine Chinese aircraft crossed the Taiwan Strait’s median line on Friday carrying out combat readiness patrols.

This comes days after Beijing threatened retaliation if President Tsai Ing-wen meets US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

China, which considers Taiwan as its own territory, has been angered by the US support for Taiwan.

Tsai arrived in the United States on Wednesday, stopping off on her way to Central America.

She is expected to meet McCarthy in Los Angeles on her way back to Taipei in April, and China on Wednesday threatened unspecified retaliation if that meeting were to go ahead.

Taiwan's defence ministry said the nine Chinese aircraft crossed at points in the north, center and south of the strait's median line, which used to serve as an unofficial buffer between the two sides.

Taiwan's armed forces responded using its own aircraft and ships to monitor the situation using the principle of “not escalating conflicts or causing disputes,” the ministry said.

“The communist military's deployment of forces deliberately created tension in the Taiwan Strait, not only undermining peace and stability, but also has a negative impact on regional security and economic development,” it said in a statement.

The ministry condemned what it called “such irrational actions.”

There was no immediate response from China.

Tsai, on her first US stopover since 2019, told an event held by the Hudson Institute think tank in New York on Thursday that the blame for rising tensions lay with China, according to excerpts of her comments reported by her office.

“China deliberately raises tensions, but Taiwan always responds cautiously and calmly, so that the world can see that Taiwan is the responsible party in cross-Strait relations,” she said.