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Taiwan spots Chinese warships, planes around island after drills end

China completed three days of military exercises around self-ruled Taiwan on Monday that saw it simulate targeted strikes and practise a blockade of the island.

Chinese warships and aircraft have been still operating around Taiwan, the island's defence ministry said, a day after Beijing declared an end to its massive war games.

Taiwan's defence ministry said it had detected nine Chinese warships and 26 aircraft around the island as of 11:00 am (0300 GMT) on Tuesday.

China "organised military aircraft this morning and crossed the median line from the north, the centre, and the south," the ministry said, referring to the unofficial but once largely adhered-to border that runs down the middle of the Taiwan Strait.

China launched three days of military exercises around self-ruled Taiwan on Saturday that saw it simulate targeted strikes and practise a blockade of the island.

The show of force from Beijing, which claims the island as part of its territory, was a response to Taiwan leader Tsai Ing-wen's meeting with US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy last week, an encounter it had warned would provoke retaliatory measures.

On Monday, the final day of the drills, the ministry said it had detected 12 Chinese warships and 91 aircraft around the island, with 54 planes crossing into Taiwan's southwestern and southeastern air defence identification zone (ADIZ).

During the exercises, J15 fighter jets had been deployed off China's Shandong aircraft carrier and were among the aircraft that crossed the median line, the defence ministry added.

The ADIZ is not the same as Taiwan's territorial airspace, and includes a far greater area that overlaps with part of China's own ADIZ and even some of the mainland.

Tsai condemned the military drills on Monday, hours after they officially came to an end, saying China was using Taiwan's engagement with the United States as an "excuse to launch military exercises, causing instability in Taiwan and the region".

'Successfully completed'

After the three-day exercise, the Chinese military said it had "successfully completed" tasks related to its "Joint Sword" drills.

The war games saw Beijing simulate "sealing" off the island, with state media reporting dozens of planes had practised an "aerial blockade".

The United States, which had repeatedly called for China to show restraint, on Monday sent the USS Milius guided-missile destroyer through contested parts of the South China Sea.

The deployment triggered condemnation from China, which said the vessel had "illegally intruded" into its territorial waters.

Separately, Beijing warned that Taiwanese independence and cross-strait peace were "mutually exclusive", blaming Taipei and unnamed "foreign forces" supporting it for the tensions.

The White House made clear that relations with Beijing were rocky following the drills.

SOURCE: AFP