Chinese military held drills near Taiwan as US health secretary visited Taipei, PLA says

Exercises ‘were a response to the security situation of the Taiwan Strait and … to safeguard national sovereignty’, Eastern Theatre Command spokesman says

Statement came after Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen said on Wednesday the island needed to ramp up its defensive capabilities to protect its democracy from Beijing

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The PLA’s Eastern Theatre Command says its troops carried out exercises close to Taiwan. Photo: Weibo

Published: 5:15pm, 13 Aug 2020Updated: 5:15pm, 13 Aug 2020

As the US health secretary was making a high-profile visit to Taiwan, troops from the Chinese mainland delivered a “serious warning” to supporters of independence for the self-ruled island with a series of military drills on its doorstep.

The exercises were conducted by the Eastern Theatre Command of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) in the Taiwan Strait, which separates the mainland from Taiwan, and to the north and south of the island, according to the command’s spokesman, Senior Colonel Zhang Chunhui.

“Recently, some major powers have persisted in a negative trend on the Taiwan issue, sending a serious and negative signal to those Taiwanese independence forces, and seriously threatening the safety and stability of the Taiwan Strait,” he said on Thursday.

“The patrols and exercises by the command’s forces were a response to the security situation of the Taiwan Strait and a necessary measure to safeguard national sovereignty.”

A military spokesman says the exercises took place in the Taiwan Strait, and to the north and south of the self-ruled island. Photo: Weibo

The statement came after US Secretary of Health Alex Azar completed a four-day visit to Taiwan. He is the highest ranking US official to visit the island since Washington cut diplomatic ties with Taipei in favour of Beijing in 1979.

Taiwan and the US have strengthened their relationship in recent years, amid tensions both between Beijing and Washington, and across the Taiwan Strait.