China started military exercises near Taiwan after US delegation visited island

China today began six-day military exercises in southwest Taiwan, at a time when the island was visited by an American delegation.

China’s Maritime Safety Administration released a statement on its website on Wednesday in which it banned any vessel from entering the affected area, where live ammunition tests will be carried out.

According to the source, theThe maneuvers will be carried out between 8:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. local time (00:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m. GMT) every day between April 15 and 20inclusive, in the Nanpeng Archipelago, belonging to the Canton of Southeast China Province and located in the Taiwan Strait.

These maneuvers coincide with the visit to Taiwan of former US Senator Chris Dodd and former Assistant Secretaries of State Richard Armitage and James Steinberg., which landed on the island on Wednesday, an event that fueled tensions between Beijing and Washington.

Additionally, in recent weeks Taiwan has detected an increasing number of incursions – both in frequency and volume – of Chinese military aircraft into its air defense identification zone.

Last week, the United States announced that relax the complex requirements your officials face when contacting their counterparts in Taiwan.

State Department spokesman Ned Price clarified that this does not imply that the North American country is starting to officially recognize Taipei – it stopped doing so in 1979 – but that “the new directives facilitate contacts “with the island.

“The guidelines underline that Taiwan is a dynamic democracy and an important economic and security partner, and that it is also a positive force within the international community,” Ned Price added.

The announcement came at a time when Beijing has also increased tensions with Taiwan, that it considers to be part of its territory, in particular by air and naval military maneuvers within or near its territory.

In fact, the Chinese navy said on Tuesday that it would continue to conduct training exercises in waters near Taiwan “on a regular basis” and confirmed that the Liaoning aircraft carrier had carried out these actions recently.

The North American country has also spoken out through recent actions in the region.. For example, it increased its military presence in the South China Sea when the multipurpose amphibious assault ship USS Makin Island and the amphibious transport ship USS San Diego crossed the Strait of Malacca.

Sailors from USS Makin Island conducted “a live-fire training exercise” last week, the United States Indo-Pacific Command tweeted Thursday, along with a hashtag calling for a “Free Indo-Pacific and open “.

Tensions between China and the United States increased dramatically during the tenure of former US President Donald Trump, who prioritized strengthening relations with Taiwan, including the sale of arms, despite the fact that in 1979 Washington severed relations with Taipei in favor of the People’s Republic.

Taiwan has been governed autonomously since 1949 – when the nationalists of the Kuomintang took refuge on the island, after losing the civil war against the Communists – although Beijing claims its sovereignty over it and has not ruled out recourse to strength to regain it.

With information from EFE

KEEP READING: