The military exercises started a day after Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen returned from a brief visit to the United States, during which time she met with Speaker of the House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy, despite Beijing warning against the meeting. (Related: China increases military budget to $224 BILLION in preparation for invasion of Taiwan.)
Officials from the Taiwanese Ministry of National Defense accused the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) of using Tsai's visit to the U.S. as an "excuse to conduct military exercises, which have seriously undermined peace, stability and security in the region."
On Saturday, the first day of the exercises, Taiwan reported that 45 warplanes either crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait – the unofficial dividing line between Taiwanese and Chinese territory – or flew into the southwestern region of Taiwan's Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ).
On the second day of these exercises, Chinese state television stations reported the simulated precision strikes against Taiwanese targets.
"Under the unified command of the theater joint operations command center, multiple types of units carried out simulated joint precision strikes on key targets on Taiwan island and the surrounding sea areas, and continue to maintain an offensive posture around the island," said the report.
The Eastern Theater Command of the People's Liberation Army, the armed forces of the CCP, put out a short animation of the simulated attacks on the Chinese social media site WeChat. The animation showed missiles being fired from land, sea and air into Taiwan, with two of the missiles exploding in flames as they hit their targets.
Zhao Xiaozhuo of the PLA's Academy of Military Sciences said in an interview with a state-backed newspaper that this was the first time China has openly talked of simulated attacks against Taiwanese targets. Zhao noted that key targets include infrastructure such as runways, military logistics facilities and mobile targets of importance.
China also simulates attacks on foreign military targets
China's recent drills also simulated air and sea attacks on "foreign military targets" in the waters off Taiwan's southwestern coast, strongly suggesting that the PLA is preparing to fight against the United States.
"Taiwan is not their only target," said one source who spoke with Reuters. "It's very provocative."
Taiwan's National Defense Ministry reported spotting approximately 70 PLA aircraft, including Russian-supplied Su-30 fighters and H-6 bombers, as well as 11 ships within Taiwan's ADIZ.
The ministry added that it was paying particularly close attention to the PLA's Rocket Force, which is in charge of China's land-based missile system.
"Regarding the movements of the Chinese communists' Rocket Force, the nation's military also has a close grasp through the joint intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance system, and air defense forces remain on high alert," said the ministry in a statement.
The ministry added that Taiwanese forces will "not escalate conflicts nor cause disputes" and would respond "appropriately" to the PLA's drills.
In response to Chinese provocations, the American Institute in Taiwan, the de facto U.S. embassy on the island, said it was monitoring China's drills closely and is "comfortable and confident" it has sufficient resources and capabilities regionally to ensure peace and stability.
The White House's communications channels with Beijing remained open during the drills, with the federal government consistently urging restraint and no change to the status quo.
White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Tsai's visit through the U.S. is not a cause for concern for anybody. Tsai had already visited the U.S. six times between 2016 and 2019.
"There was no reason to react in any way militarily," he said. "There's no reason for tensions across the Taiwan Strait to devolve into any kind of conflict."
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Watch this clip from "America Right Now" on Newsmax as host Tom Basile speaks with Utah Rep. Burgess Owens about Taiwan's great importance to American interests.
This video is from the News Clips channel on Brighteon.com.
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