China rehearses 'sealing off' Taiwan, US deploys naval destroyer

PINGTAN, China: China simulated “sealing off” Taiwan during a third day of wargames around the self-ruled island on Monday, as the United States deployed a naval destroyer into Beijing-claimed waters in a show of force.

China launched the exercises in response to Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen’s meeting with US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy last week, an encounter it had warned would provoke a furious response.

After two days of exercises that included simulating targeted strikes on Taiwan and encirclement of the island, the Chinese military said the wargames also included “sealing” it off, and a state media report said dozens of planes had practised an “aerial blockade”.

One of China’s two aircraft carriers — the Shandong — also “participated in today’s exercise”, the military added.

The United States, which had repeatedly called for China to show restraint, on Monday sent the USS Milius guided-missile destroyer through contested parts of the South China Sea.

“This freedom of navigation operation upheld the rights, freedoms, and lawful uses of the sea,” the US Navy said in a statement.

It added that the vessel had passed near the Spratly Islands — an archipelago claimed by China, Taiwan, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei. It is about 1,300 kilometres (800 miles) from Taiwan.

The deployment of the Milius immediately triggered more anger from China, which said the vessel had “illegally intruded” into its territorial waters.

And Beijing warned Monday that Taiwan independence and cross-strait peace were “mutually exclusive”, blaming Taipei and unnamed “foreign forces” supporting it for the tensions.

“If we want to protect peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, we must firmly oppose any form of Taiwan independence separatism,” foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin warned.

Meanwhile, Japan said on Monday it had scrambled jets in recent days as Chinese planes landed and took off from the Shandong.

China and Taiwan split at the end of a civil war in 1949. China views Taiwan as part of its territory and has vowed to take it one day.

The United States has been deliberately ambiguous on whether it would defend Taiwan militarily.

But for decades it has sold weapons to Taipei to help ensure its self-defence, and offered political support.

Tsai met McCarthy outside Los Angeles on her way home from a visit with two allied countries in Central America.

In August last year, China deployed warships, missiles and fighter jets around Taiwan in its largest show of force in years following a trip to the island by McCarthy’s predecessor, Nancy Pelosi.

Tsai meeting with McCarthy in the United States rather than in Taiwan, was viewed as a compromise that would underscore support for the island but avoid inflaming tensions with Beijing.

Live-fire exercises

The exercises on Monday were set to include live-fire drills off the rocky coast of China’s Fujian province, about 80 kilometres south of the Matsu islands and 190 kilometres from Taipei.

The local maritime authority said the exercises would be held between 7:00 am and 8:00 pm around Pingtan, a southeastern island that is China’s nearest point to Taiwan.