China simulates striking Taiwan on second day of drills

BEIJING: Chinese fighter jets and warships simulated strikes on Taiwan on Sunday as they encircled the island during a second straight day of military drills launched in response to its president meeting the US House speaker.

The exercises sparked condemnation from Taipei and calls for restraint from Washington, which said it was “monitoring Beijing´s actions closely”. Dubbed “Joint Sword”, the three-day operation -- which includes rehearsing an encirclement of Taiwan -- will run until Monday, the People´s Liberation Army´s (PLA) Eastern Theatre Command said.

“I am a little worried; I would be lying to you if I say that I am not,” said 73-year-old Donald Ho, who was exercising in a park on Sunday morning in Taipei, in the far north of the self-ruled island.

“I am still worried because if a war broke out both sides will suffer quite a lot,” he told AFP. China´s war games sent planes, ships and personnel into “the maritime areas and air space of the Taiwan Strait, off the northern and southern coasts of the island, and to the island´s east”, the army said as it launched the exercises, engineered to flex Beijing´s military muscles in front of Taiwan and the world.

A report from state broadcaster CCTV on Sunday said drills had “simulated joint precision strikes against key targets on Taiwan island and surrounding waters”, adding that forces “continued to maintain the situation of closely encircling the island”.

The write-up went on to say the air force had deployed dozens of aircraft to “fly into the target airspace”, and ground forces had carried out drills for “multi-target precision strikes”. Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen immediately denounced the drills, which come after she met US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in California.

She pledged to work with “the US and other like-minded countries” in the face of “continued authoritarian expansionism”. In Washington, a State Department spokesperson said the United States had “consistently urged restraint and no change to the status quo”, but noted it had ample resources to fulfil its security commitments in Asia.

The United States has been deliberately ambiguous on whether it would defend Taiwan militarily, although for decades it has sold weapons to Taipei to help ensure its self-defence.