Taiwan detects large Chinese troops around the island
text_fields
Taipei: Taiwan's Defence Ministry said Tuesday that it had detected a dozen Chinese naval ships and 47 military planes in the past 24 hours but no live-fire activity as in previous military exercises, the Associated Press reported.
It is suspected that China’s secretive military is up to something around the island country, but it is unclear if it is a formal military drill.
The deployment covers a wider area this time, with additional ships going beyond Taiwan into other parts of the Pacific, defence officials said at a news conference.
Lt. Gen. Hsieh Jih-sheng said China's navy is creating two walls — one at Taiwan's perimeter and another outside the first island chain, which extends south from Japan and through Taiwan to the Philippines.
“The message they are sending is very simple: The Taiwan Strait is ours,” he said, referring to the waters between Taiwan and China.
The military has been bracing for possible drills by China in response to a recent overseas trip by Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te that included Hawaii and Guam, an American territory.
China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and opposes the self-governing island having official interactions with other countries, and in particular, the United States. Lai spoke with US congressional leaders by phone while in Guam last week. While the US, like most of the world, doesn't formally recognise Taiwan as a country, it is the largest supplier of arms to the island of 23 million people for its defence.