Taiwan’s foreign ministry condemned China on Monday for undermining “peace and stability” in the region after Beijing ended three days of war games around the self-ruled island.
China “wilfully uses military exercises to undermine peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait,” the foreign ministry said, adding Taipei will maintain close links with the United States “to jointly deter authoritarian expansion”.
Taiwan’s defence ministry said it detected 12 Chinese warships and 91 aircraft around the island on Monday, after Beijing ended three-day military exercises.
“Although (China’s) Eastern Theatre Command has announced the end of its exercise, the military will never relax its efforts to strengthen its combat readiness,” the defence ministry said in a statement, adding that its tally of ships and aircraft was as of 6 pm (1000 GMT) on Monday.