BEIJING: China said fighter jets carrying “live ammunition” conducted “simulated strikes” near Taiwan on Monday, and that its Shandong aircraft carrier was involved in the ongoing exercises, as the US Navy said it sailed a guided-missile destroyer through waters claimed by Beijing.
The Taiwan defence ministry said it spotted 59 Chinese military planes near Taiwan on the third day of Beijing’s military drills.
The ministry said that, among them, 39 Chinese planes crossed the Taiwan Strait median line and entered Taiwan’s air defence zones.
China said its forces carried out a simulated “sealing off” of Taiwan during the maritime drills, while dozens of planes practised an “aerial blockade” of the island, a military statement said.
“Multiple batches of H-6K fighters carrying live ammunition […] carried out multiple waves of simulated strikes on important targets on Taiwan Island,” the Chinese military’s Eastern Theatre Command said, adding that the Shandong carrier “participated in today’s exercise”.
Also on Monday, the US Navy said its guided-missile destroyer the USS Milius sailed through waters claimed by Beijing in the South China Sea in a “freedom of navigation” operation.
“This freedom of navigation operation upheld the rights, freedoms, and lawful uses of the sea,” the Navy said in a statement, adding that the ship had passed near the Spratly Islands.
The USS Milius sailed about 1,300 kilometres (800 miles) away from the location where Chinese fighter jets and warships were carrying out a third day of military drills around Taiwan.
The war games follow a meeting last week between Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen and US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy outside Los Angeles.
The exercises sparked condemnation from Taipei and calls for restraint from Washington, which said it was “monitoring Beijing’s actions closely”.
