Taipei: The defence ministry of Taiwan reported on Tuesday that Chinese warships and aircraft were still in the area of the island a day after Beijing declared the end of its extensive war exercises.
On Saturday, China began a three-day military exercise around the island of Taiwan, during which it practised a blockade of the territory and targeted attacks.
When Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen met with US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy last week, Beijing, which claims the island as part of its territory, warned that the meeting would result in retaliatory action.
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At 11:00 a.m. (0300 GMT) on Tuesday, the Taiwanese defence ministry reported that 26 aircraft and nine Chinese warships were circling the island.
The ministry referred to the unofficial but formerly widely recognised border that runs down the middle of the Taiwan Strait as the "median line" and claimed that China "organised military aircraft this morning and crossed the median line from the north, the centre, and the south."
On Monday, the last day of the exercises, the ministry reported that it had spotted 91 aircraft and 12 Chinese warships in the area, with 54 of those aircraft flying into Taiwan's southwest and southeast air defence identification zones (ADIZ).
The number of ADIZ incursions was the most in one day since October 2021. J15 fighter jets had been stationed off China's Shandong aircraft carrier during the exercises and were among the aircraft that crossed the median line, according to the defence ministry.
The ADIZ is different from Taiwan's territorial airspace in that it encompasses a much larger area that partly overlaps with China's own ADIZ and even some of the mainland.
Hours after they had officially ended, Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen denounced the military exercises and claimed that China was using Taiwan's engagement with the United States as a "excuse to launch military exercises, causing instability in Taiwan and the region."
Despite the conclusion of China's military exercise, Tsai stated in a Facebook post that "our military and national security team will continue to stick to their posts and defend the country."
The Chinese military claimed to have "successfully completed" all of its "Joint Sword" drill-related tasks following the three-day exercise. Beijing practised "sealing" off the island during the war games, and according to state media, dozens of planes practised a "aerial blockade."
On Monday, the USS Milius guided-missile warship travelled through disputed areas of the South China Sea. The US had previously urged China to exercise restraint. In a statement, the US Navy said that "this freedom of navigation operation upheld the rights, freedoms, and lawful uses of the sea."
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China expressed its disapproval of the deployment, claiming that the vessel had "illegally intruded" into its territorial waters. Separately, Beijing issued a warning that cross-strait peace and Taiwanese independence were "mutually exclusive," blaming Taipei and unnamed "foreign forces" that support it for the unrest. The White House made it clear that after the drills, ties with Beijing were strained.
