China announces drills near Taiwan after Tsai defiance meeting with US house speaker, others
China says it will hold three days of military drills around Taiwan waters and airspace starting today.
The People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command made the announcement on Friday.
The move is seen as a response to Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen’s recent meeting with US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
The announcement says patrols and drills will be conducted in waters and airspace around Taiwan but the scale of the exercises has not been disclosed.
Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen has vowed to not “yield to suppression” after returning from a trip that saw her meet US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and a bipartisan group of Congress members in Los Angeles on her return journey.
Tsai was speaking at an airport after touching down on Friday. Her trip included visits to Guatemala and Belize, two Central American nations which she said expressed strong support for Taiwan’s determination to uphold freedom and democracy.
Reports say her talks with McCarthy is the first time a house speaker has met a Taiwanese leader on US soil.
