By Anadolu Agency
China on Monday said its latest military drills encircling Taiwan are a “stern warning to Taiwan secessionist forces and their collusion with external forces.”
Wang Wenbin, the spokesman for China’s Foreign Ministry, said the “Joint Sword” three-day drills held by People’s Liberation Army (PLA) since Saturday, “encircling Taiwan island are a stern warning to Taiwan secessionist forces and their collusion with external forces and necessary actions to safeguard national sovereignty, territorial integrity.”
China launched mass military drills after US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy hosted Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen for a meeting in California last week, after Tsai’s 10-day trip to Central America.
The PLA Eastern Theater Command said Monday it “successfully wrapped up combat alert patrols and Joint Sword exercises.”
Wang dubbed Taiwan’s “secessionist activities and the ‘connivance and support from the US’ as the ‘biggest’ threat to cross-Straits peace,” a terminology to designate China-Taiwan relations.
“‘Taiwan independence’ is incompatible with peace and stability in the Taiwan Straits as fire and water. Any kind of ‘Taiwan independence’ secessionist move must be firmly opposed in order to keep peace and stability,” said Wang, according to the Chinese daily Global Times.
On French President Emmanuel Macron’s remarks on Taiwan, Wang said: “We hope all parties can recognize the essence of the Taiwan question, commit to the one-China principle and oppose any form of Taiwan secessionist activities.”
During his state visit to China last week, Macron had said in an interview: “Europeans cannot resolve the crisis in Ukraine; how can we credibly say on Taiwan, ‘watch out, if you do something wrong, we will be there’? If you really want to increase tensions that’s the way to do it.”
“The great risk Europe faces is that it gets caught up in crises that are not ours, which prevents it from building its strategic autonomy,” Macron said, according to politico.eu