'Irrational, provocative moves': Taiwan on China's 'warning' military drills

Taiwan has a "complete grasp" of Chinese military activities, the island's presidential office said on Saturday, said reports.

Slamming China for launching military exercises involving vessels and planes around the island on Saturday, Taiwan said Beijing is "ignoring its international responsibilities" by increasing military threats and undermining regional stability, reported Reuters.

The Chinese military launched drills as a stern warning over what it called collusion between separatists and foreign forces, its defense ministry said. This comes days after Taiwanese Vice President William Lai travelled to Paraguay and the US as the mainland's ruling Communist Party claims Taiwan is part of its territory and hence, has no right to conduct foreign relations.

The Chinese drills came hours after US President Joe Biden met with Japanese and South Korean leaders at Camp David to deepen defence and economic cooperation, while reaffirming "the importance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait as an indispensable element of security and prosperity in the international community."

The PLA's Eastern Theatre Command said it was testing the forces' actual combat capabilities and posted footage of the drills that showed soldiers running, as well as missile-equipped boats and fighter jets.

Strongly condemning China's “irrational, provocative moves", Taiwan's defense ministry said it would deploy appropriate forces to respond to the drills. It uploaded an undated video that showed Taiwanese forces holding drills on the streets, in the countryside and at sea.

However, this is not the first time that Beijing has launched such military exercises. Last year, when then US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan, major drills were held as a 'warning'. Later China responded in a similar way when President Tsai Ing-wen met senior American lawmakers in the US.

– with inputs from agencies