China begins military drills in Taiwan Strait, over 40 planes cross sensitive median

China on Saturday announced that it is launching three days of military drills in the Taiwan Strait to express anger at Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen’s meeting with the speaker of the US House of Representatives.

The People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theatre Command said ‘United Sharp Sword’ would run from April 8 to 10 for “combat preparedness”. The drills had been widely expected after China condemned the meeting with Speaker Kevin McCarthy in Los Angeles.

China views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory and has never renounced the use of force to bring the island under its control. Taiwan’s government strongly objects to China’s claims, Reuters reported.Beijing’s announcement also came just hours after China hosted a visit by senior European leaders.

The People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theatre Command said it had started combat readiness patrols and “Joint Sword” exercises around Taiwan, having said earlier it would be holding them in the Taiwan Strait and to the north, south and east of Taiwan “as planned”.Taiwan’s defence ministry said it detected 13 Chinese aircraft and three warships around the island.

China on Thursday vowed reprisals against Taiwan after a meeting between the United States House speaker and the island’s president, saying that the US was on a “wrong and dangerous road.”Speaker Kevin McCarthy hosted Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen on Wednesday in a show of US support for the self-governed island, which China claims as its own, along with a bipartisan delegation of more than a dozen US lawmakers.

The Biden administration maintains there is nothing provocative about the visit by Tsai, which is the latest of a half dozen to the US Yet it comes as the US-China relationship has fallen to historic lows, with US support for Taiwan one of the main points of difference between the two powers, news agency Associated Press reported.