TAIPEI: Chinese warships and aircraft were still operating around Taiwan on Tuesday, the island’s defense ministry said, a day after Beijing declared an end to its massive war games.
China launched three days of military exercises around self-ruled Taiwan on Saturday that saw it simulate targeted strikes and practice a blockade of the island.
The show of force from Beijing, which claims the island as part of its territory, was a response to Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen’s meeting with US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy last week, an encounter it had warned would provoke retaliatory measures.
Taiwan’s defense ministry said it had detected nine Chinese warships and 26 aircraft around the island as of 11:00 a.m. (0300 GMT) on Tuesday.
China “organized military aircraft this morning and crossed the median line from the north, the center, and the south,” the ministry said, referring to the unofficial but once largely adhered-to border that runs down the middle of the Taiwan Strait.
On Monday, the final day of the drills, the ministry said it had detected 12 Chinese warships and 91 aircraft around the island, with 54 planes crossing into Taiwan’s southwestern and southeastern air defense identification zone (ADIZ).
The ADIZ incursions were the highest recorded in a single day since October 2021.
During the exercises, J15 fighter jets had been deployed off China’s Shandong aircraft carrier and were among the aircraft that crossed the median line, the defense ministry added.
The ADIZ is not the same as Taiwan’s territorial airspace, and includes a far greater area that overlaps with part of China’s own ADIZ and even some of the mainland.
Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen condemned the military drills on Monday, hours after they officially came to an end, saying China was using Taiwan’s engagement with the United States as an “excuse to launch military exercises, causing instability in Taiwan and the region.”
“Although China’s military exercise has come to an end, our military and national security team will continue to stick to their posts and defend the country,” Tsai said in a post on Facebook.
After the three-day exercise, the Chinese military said it had “successfully completed” tasks related to its “Joint Sword” drills.
The war games saw Beijing simulate “sealing” off the island, with state media reporting dozens of planes had practiced an “aerial blockade.”
The United States, which had repeatedly called for China to show restraint, on Monday sent the USS Milius guided-missile warship through contested parts of the South China Sea.
“This freedom of navigation operation upheld the rights, freedoms, and lawful uses of the sea,” the US Navy said in a statement.
The deployment triggered condemnation from China, which said the vessel had “illegally intruded” into its territorial waters.
Separately, Beijing warned that Taiwanese independence and cross-strait peace were “mutually exclusive,” blaming Taipei and unnamed “foreign forces” supporting it for the tensions.
The White House made clear that relations with Beijing were rocky following the drills.
Taiwan detects Chinese warships, planes around island after drills end
https://arab.news/2cueq
Taiwan detects Chinese warships, planes around island after drills end
- China launched three days of military exercises around self-ruled Taiwan on Saturday
- Exercises simulated targeted strikes and practice a blockade of the island
Reference to Trump’s impeachments is removed from the display of his Smithsonian photo portrait
- For now, references to Presidents Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton being impeached in 1868 and 1998, respectively, remain as part of their portrait labels, as does President Richard Nixon’s 1974 resignation as a result of the Watergate scandal
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump’s photo portrait display at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery has had references to his two impeachments removed, the latest apparent change at the collection of museums he has accused of bias as he asserts his influence over how official presentations document US history.
The wall text, which summarized Trump’s first presidency and noted his 2024 comeback victory, was part of the museum’s “American Presidents” exhibition. The description had been placed alongside a photograph of Trump taken during his first term. Now, a different photo appears without any accompanying text block, though the text was available online. Trump was the only president whose display in the gallery, as seen Sunday, did not include any extended text.
The White House did not say whether it sought any changes. Nor did a Smithsonian statement in response to Associated Press questions. But Trump ordered in August that Smithsonian officials review all exhibits before the nation celebrates the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence on July 4. The Republican administration said the effort would “ensure alignment with the president’s directive to celebrate American exceptionalism, remove divisive or partisan narratives, and restore confidence in our shared cultural institutions.”
Trump’s original “portrait label,” as the Smithsonian calls it, notes Trump’s Supreme Court nominations and his administration’s development of COVID-19 vaccines. That section concludes: “Impeached twice, on charges of abuse of power and incitement of insurrection after supporters attacked the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, he was acquitted by the Senate in both trials.”
Then the text continues: “After losing to Joe Biden in 2020, Trump mounted a historic comeback in the 2024 election. He is the only president aside from Grover Cleveland (1837– 1908) to have won a nonconsecutive second term.”
Asked about the display, White House spokesman Davis Ingle celebrated the new photograph, which shows Trump, brow furrowed, leaning over his Oval Office desk. Ingle said it ensures Trump’s “unmatched aura ... will be felt throughout the halls of the National Portrait Gallery.”
The portrait was taken by White House photographer Daniel Torok, who is credited in the display that includes medallions noting Trump is the 45th and 47th president. Similar numerical medallions appear alongside other presidents’ painted portraits that also include the more extended biographical summaries such as what had been part of Trump’s display.
Sitting presidents are represented by photographs until their official paintings are commissioned and completed.
Ingle did not answer questions about whether Trump or a White House aide, on his behalf, asked for anything related to the portrait label.
The gallery said in a statement that it had previously rotated two photographs of Trump from its collection before putting up Torok’s work.
“The museum is beginning its planned update of the America’s Presidents gallery which will undergo a larger refresh this Spring,” the gallery statement said. “For some new exhibitions and displays, the museum has been exploring quotes or tombstone labels, which provide only general information, such as the artist’s name.”
For now, references to Presidents Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton being impeached in 1868 and 1998, respectively, remain as part of their portrait labels, as does President Richard Nixon’s 1974 resignation as a result of the Watergate scandal.
And, the gallery statement noted, “The history of Presidential impeachments continues to be represented in our museums, including the National Museum of American History.”
Trump has made clear his intentions to shape how the federal government documents US history and culture. He has offered an especially harsh assessment of how the Smithsonian and other museums have featured chattel slavery as a seminal variable in the nation’s development but also taken steps to reshape how he and his contemporary rivals are depicted.
In the months before his order for a Smithsonian review, he fired the head archivist of the National Archives and said he was firing the National Portrait Gallery’s director, Kim Sajet, as part of his overhaul. Sajet maintained the backing of the Smithsonian’s governing board, but she ultimately resigned.
At the White House, Trump has designed a notably partisan and subjective “Presidential Walk of Fame” featuring gilded photographs of himself and his predecessors — with the exception of Biden, who is represented by an autopen — along with plaques describing their presidencies.
The White House said at the time that Trump himself was a primary author of the plaques. Notably, Trump’s two plaques praise the 45th and 47th president as a historically successful figure while those under Biden’s autopen stand-in describe the 46th executive as “by far, the worst President in American History” who “brought our Nation to the brink of destruction.”
