China has started military exercises with ships and aircraft near Taiwan, just days after the self-ruled democratic island marked its National Day. The exercises, dubbed Joint Sword-2024B, began early on Monday and were a \u201cstern warning to the separatist acts of \u2018Taiwan Independence\u2019 forces\u201d, said Beijing, which claims the island as its own. Captain Li Xi, the spokesman for the Chinese military\u2019s Eastern Theatre Command, said the drills were focussed on \u201csea-air combat-readiness patrol, blockade on key ports and areas\u201d and would also involve an \u201cassault on maritime and ground targets\u201d. The drills, he added, were a \u201clegitimate and necessary operation for safeguarding state sovereignty and national unity\u201d, and gave no date for their conclusion. Taiwan\u2019s Ministry of Defence expressed its strong condemnation of China\u2019s \u201cirrational and provocative actions\u201d and said it had \u201cdispatched appropriate forces to respond accordingly to protect freedom and democracy, and defend the sovereignty\u201d of Taiwan. As of 8am (00:00 GMT), it said some 25 PLA aircraft and a total of 11 ships, including seven from the navy, were found operating around Taiwan. \u201cI would like to reassure my compatriots that the government will continue to defend the democratic and free constitutional system, protect democratic Taiwan, and safeguard national security,\u201d he wrote on Facebook. In recent years, China has stepped up its military activity around Taiwan, which it claims as its own. The latest drills come just days after Lai gave his first National Day address on October 10, promising he would resist any \u201cannexation or encroachment\u201d and that Beijing had no right to represent the island\u2019s 23 million people.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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