China Conducts Fresh Military Drills Around Taiwan

China said on Monday it has organised fresh military drills around Taiwan.

This is as a delegation of visiting United States lawmakers met Taiwan’s leader after a similar trip by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi heightened fears of conflict.

The Dawn news added that the unannounced two-day trip came after China sent warships, missiles and jets into the waters and skies around Taiwan, a self-ruled democracy that China has vowed to one day seize.

China’s Communist Party has never ruled Taiwan but says it will use force if necessary to take the island.

The United States lawmakers' visit to Taiwan sparked a caustic response from China which said it had carried out combat readiness patrol and combat drills in the sea and airspace around Taiwan island on Monday.

Shi Yi, the spokesman for the Chinese military’s Eastern Theater Command, said in a statement; “This is a solemn deterrent against the US and Taiwan for continuing to play political tricks and undermining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait."

Foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin also added; "In response to the delegation’s visit, China also called on the US to stop going further down the wrong path of distorting the one-China principle, so as not to cause further damage to China-US relations and peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.

“China will take firm and forceful measures to safeguard its national sovereignty and territorial integrity."