TAIPEI: Taiwan accused China on Friday of raising tensions in the region with a “provocative” military patrol involving warplanes and warships near the island, an unusual public rebuke in what are typically routine accounts of Chinese military activity.
Taiwan, which China views as its own territory, has complained of repeated Chinese military drills and patrols nearby. Since President Lai Ching-te took office last year China has held three major rounds of war games.
Taiwan’s defense ministry said that starting mid-afternoon Friday, it had detected 21 Chinese military aircraft, including J-16 fighters, operating with warships to carry out “so-called joint combat readiness patrols” and “harass the airspace and seas around us.”
“The Ministry of National Defense stresses that these acts are highly provocative, fail to pay proper attention to the maritime rights of other countries, bring anxiety and threat to the region, and blatantly undermine the status quo in the region,” it said.
Taiwan regularly reports such Chinese “combat patrols,” but does not generally attach such commentary to its statements.
China’s defense ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
China says democratically governed Taiwan is its “sacred territory” — a position the government in Taipei strongly rejects — and that it has a right to carry out drills in Chinese territory.
Lai, who last month marked a year in office, is hated by Beijing, which calls him a separatist and has rebuffed his repeated offers for talks.
Lai says only Taiwan’s people can decide their future. China has never renounced the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control.
