China observes US-Taiwan 'collusive activities'
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China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) announced that it conducted a military drill responding to what it described as the US and Taiwan's “collusive activities.”
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Soldiers wave goodbye to the fleet of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy at a military port in Zhanjiang City, south China's Guangdong Province, January 15, 2022 (Xinhua)
On Wednesday, China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) announced that it conducted a military exercise in Taiwan's vicinity as a warning against the US-Taiwan "collusion." This comes two days after, President Joe Biden's statement that Washington would get involved militarily if China were to try to take the self-ruled island by force.
According to Senior Colonel Shi Yi, a spokesperson of the Eastern Theatre Command, said in a press release “the PLA Eastern Theater Command recently organized multiple military services and branches to conduct a joint alert patrol and realistic combat exercises in and above the waters around the island of Taiwan.”
Shi accused the US of saying one thing and doing another over the Taiwan question. This accusation referenced the US' statement on seeking peace and stability under its own conditions by which its interests in Asia are secured under the Taiwan Relations Act, pledging to protect Taiwan against "Chinese invasion", yet it claimed to be committed to the One China policy agreement, leaving the world in confusion.
Shi concluded by insisting that the US is leading the situation in Taiwan "to a place where it becomes dangerous" and that evidently there will be serious consequences to any provocations.
Beijing regards Taiwan as an inalienable part of its sovereign territory and opposes any official contact between Taiwan and other nations.
The United States has backed pro-independence groups in Taiwan and sold weaponry to the island. The Chinese Foreign Ministry has stated repeatedly that the One China principle is a political foundation of China-US relations, and that Washington's transgressions of its own obligations have jeopardized bilateral cooperation, posing a threat to peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.
