China has begun three days of military exercises around Taiwan to express anger at Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen's meeting with the speaker of the United States House of Representatives.
Taiwan's Defence Ministry said 71 Chinese aircraft, including fighter jets and bombers, and nine ships had crossed the Taiwan Strait's median line by 4pm Saturday (local time), following China's announcement it would hold "combat readiness patrols" to the north, south and east of the island.
The drills, announced the day after Ms Tsai returned from the US, had been widely expected after China condemned the meeting with Speaker Kevin McCarthy at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Los Angeles on Wednesday.
"This is a serious warning to the Taiwan independence separatist forces and external forces' collusion and provocation, and it is a necessary action to defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity," the People's Liberation Army's Eastern Theatre Command announced in a brief statement.
As part of the exercises, a Chinese warship began live-fire drills, firing multiple rounds of artillery in the Luoyan Bay area on the coast of Fujian province, about 50 kilometres north-west of the Taiwan-controlled Matsu islands.
Taiwan's Defence Ministry said it was monitoring the situation, maintaining a high degree of vigilance, and would respond appropriately to defend the island's security.
The ministry said in a statement that China was using Ms Tsai's US visit "as an excuse to carry out military exercises, which has seriously damaged regional peace, stability and security".
"The military will respond with a calm, rational and serious attitude, and will stand guard and monitor in accordance with the principles of 'not escalating nor disputes' to defend national sovereignty and national security," the statement read.
A senior Taiwanese official familiar with security planning in the region told Reuters that China was likely to increase its air and sea patrols in an attempt to "harass" Taiwan's air defence zone and "squeeze" closer to the Taiwan Strait's median line, which normally serves as an unofficial barrier between the two.
The situation was "as expected" and manageable, and Taiwan's government has rehearsed various scenarios for its response, the person said, speaking on condition of anonymity as they were not authorised to speak to the media.
Tsai meets with US delegation in Taipei
At the start of a lunch with a visiting US political delegation on Saturday, Ms Tsai said Taiwan's people loved democracy and sought peace, adding that she looked forward to further strengthening security cooperation with the United States.
Delegation leader Michael McCaul, chairman of the US House Foreign Affairs Committee, said the US and Taiwan shared the same ideals and values and promised to deliver weapons to the island.
The People's Daily, the official newspaper of China's ruling Communist Party, said in a commentary on Saturday that the government has "a strong ability to thwart any form of Taiwan independence secession".
"All countermeasures taken by the Chinese government belong to China's legitimate and legal right to safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity," it said.
Ms Tsai, who strongly rejects Beijing's sovereignty claims, has repeatedly offered talks with China but has been rebuffed as the government views her as a separatist.
She said only Taiwan's people could decide their future.
There was no broader sense of alarm in Taiwan about the drills, where people are long accustomed to Chinese threats.
Beijing staged war games around Taiwan, including live fire missile launches, in August after then-House speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taipei.
However, unlike in August, China has yet to announce whether it will also stage missile drills.
Then, China published a map at the same time as its announcement of the drills showing which maritime areas near Taiwan it would be firing into.
Taiwanese officials had expected a less severe reaction to the meeting with Mr McCarthy, given it took place in the United States, but they had said they could not rule out the possibility of China staging more drills.
Sanctions announced following meeting in California
Having threatened unspecified retaliation if the meeting were to take place, China has announced sanctions against the Hudson Institute and the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.
China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced the organisations were sanctioned for "providing a platform and convenience to Taiwan separatist activities" and that Chinese institutions were prohibited from having any cooperation or contact with them.
Separately, the Taiwan Affairs Office also announced further sanctions on Hsiao Bi-khim, Taiwan's representative in the United States.
China's announcement of military drills came hours after French President Emmanuel Macron left China following meetings with senior leaders, including President Xi Jinping, where Mr Macron urged Beijing to talk sense to Russia over the war in Ukraine.
European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen, also in China this week to meet Mr Xi, said stability in the Taiwan Strait was of paramount importance.
Mr Xi responded by saying that expecting China to compromise on Taiwan was "wishful thinking", according to China's official reading of the meeting.
ABC/Reuters
