China began a three-day air and sea military exercise and patrol around Taiwan on Saturday, following a meeting between the island's leader Tsai Ing-wen and U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy in California earlier this week.
Taiwan's Defense Ministry said it detected 71 Chinese military aircraft and nine warships around the Taiwan Strait from the morning to late afternoon, of which 45 planes crossed the median line of the strait or entered the island's air defense identification zone in its southwest.
The exercise and patrol off the northern and southern coasts of Taiwan and to the island's east were "necessary for safeguarding China's national sovereignty and territorial integrity," according to the Eastern Theater Command of the Chinese military, which covers the Taiwan Strait.
The meeting between Tsai and the third-highest-ranking U.S. official during her stopover in the United States after her trip to Taiwan's Central American allies has angered Beijing, which regards the self-ruled democratic island as its own.
Last August, China conducted large-scale military exercises in areas encircling Taiwan following a visit to the island by McCarthy's predecessor Nancy Pelosi.
Army senior Col. Shi Yi, the spokesman for the command, said in a statement that the operations will serve as "a stern warning against the collusion between separatist forces seeking 'Taiwan independence' and external forces, and against their provocative activities."
Taiwan's Defense Ministry criticized the Chinese military's move Saturday, saying Beijing was using Tsai's U.S. transit as "an excuse" to carry out the exercises.
The mainland has seriously undermined regional peace, stability and security in recent years by continuously sending its planes and ships to areas near the island, it said in a statement.
The Taiwan military will closely monitor the situation in the region, continue to maintain a high degree of vigilance, respond appropriately, and "make every effort to safeguard national security," the ministry said.
On Friday, China announced fresh sanctions against Hsiao Bi-khim, Taiwan's de facto ambassador to the United States, and punitive steps against two American institutes that hosted Tsai during her stay in the United States.
Communist-led China and Taiwan have been governed separately since they split in 1949 due to a civil war. Beijing regards Taiwan as a renegade province to be brought into its fold, by force if necessary.
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