The Chinese military fired rockets into the sea around Taiwan, and up to four of them landed on Taipei. In addition, Reuters reported that Chinese aircraft crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait this morning and Taiwan mobilized its forces to monitor the situation.
China has been conducting unprecedented military maneuvers in the sea and airspace around Taiwan since Thursday. This was a reaction to US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s recent visit to the island, which Beijing strongly protested against.
On Friday morning, several Chinese military ships and aircraft crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait, the unofficial border between the PRC and Taiwan, Taiwan’s Ministry of Defense said. Taiwan has deployed its own aircraft, ships and missile systems to monitor the situation.
“It’s very provocative.” – Assessed Taiwan’s Defense Ministry, which, while not asking for war, assured the country that it was ready to defend itself.
Tensions between Beijing and Taipei continue to rise after US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s recent visit to Taiwan. The Chinese viewed the visit as “playing with fire”.
China’s actions around Taiwan are an attempt to establish a new status quo, but the US will not allow it – John Kirby, spokesman for the National Security Council, commented on tensions between China and Taiwan.
There is no reason for this fabricated crisis to occur (…) The Chinese are using the Pelosi announcer’s arrival as an excuse to raise the stakes and try to establish a new status quo, a new normal. Kirby said at a press conference. My message here is that we disagree Kirby added. He stressed that the US is ready to respond to Chinese actions “not just through military means”.
A spokesman said he expected “more exercises, more belligerent rhetoric and infiltration” from Beijing in the future. Such behavior can lead to unintended consequences and may escalate, he said.
Kirby also mentioned the delayed trial of the US Minuteman III ICBM. He said the hearing was not canceled but postponed for a while to avoid escalating tensions with China.
While a strong, confident nuclear power says we are not interested in escalating tensions, we believe we can wait a few weeks with a test to show how serious we are. – he said.
Regarding the situation in Ukraine, Kirby also said that the United States had information that Russia wanted to plant false evidence that the deaths of Ukrainian prisoners of war at the Olenivka camp were the result of Himars missile strikes.
I’m not a criminologist, but my guess is that if you have no intention of incriminating anyone other than the perpetrator, you don’t plant false evidence. – he said.
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