US President Donald Trump has said he is not worried about Beijing’s military drills around Taiwan which see Chinese forces practising a blockade of the island.
“I have a great relationship with President Xi [Jinping], and he hasn’t told me anything about [the drills]. I certainly have seen it,” Trump told reporters at a press conference on Monday.
“No, nothing worries me. They’ve been doing naval exercises for 20 years in that area,” he said.
The two-day war games, which kicked off on Monday, take place nearly two weeks after the US announced one of its largest-ever arms sale to Taiwan. The sale had angered Beijing, which sees the self-governed island as a breakaway province.
The war games, which simulate the seizure and blockade of the island’s key areas, are a warning against “Taiwan independence separatist forces” and “external interference”, the Chinese military said.
China’s military exercises on Tuesday will see it run 10 hours of live-firing exercises in the sea and airspace of five locations surrounding the island.
Its Eastern Theater Command in charge of the Taiwan Strait said it has lined up destroyers, frigates and fighter-bombers to test the military’s “sea-air coordination” and “integrated containment capabilities”.
Taiwan’s defence ministry said it detected 130 Chinese military aircraft around the island on Tuesday morning, 90 of which crossed the “median line” – an unofficial border dividing China and Taiwan, the validity of which China has rejected.
The Taiwanese ministry also said it spotted more than a dozen Chinese navy vessels near the island. Taiwan’s armed forces monitored the situation and have deployed aircraft, ships and coastal missile systems in response, the ministry said.
Taiwan’s presidential office has criticised the drills, calling them a challenge to international norms.
In a Tuesday morning statement on social media, Taiwanese president Lai Ching-te said the Chinese Communist Party’s escalation of military pressure was “not something that a responsible power should do”.
“We will act responsibly and not escalate conflict or stir up disputes,” he said, adding that Taiwan’s military and national security team would “do their best to ensure the safety of the country”.
The “main audience” for this week’s drills “really is the United States, Donald Trump and Japan more than the people of Taiwan,” Susan Shirk, former US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, told the BBC’s Newsday programme.
“It’s an expression of resolve and anger” about the US arm sales, which now include not only defensive weapons but also offensive equipment that could strike the Chinese mainland, Ms Shirk added.
She also pointed out concerns in the US that President Trump “is less committed to America’s defence of Taiwan than previous presidents had been”.
“He’s engaged in a kind of transactional policy in which he might be willing to reduce some of America’s commitment to Taiwan, in exchange for other trade or economic benefits,” she said.
Alexander Neill, an adjunct fellow with the Pacific Forum, told the BBC that the ongoing exercise is “designed to demonstrate an operational capability by the People’s Liberation Army at sea and in the air”.
Trump is “not wrong” about China’s ramping of up such exercises over the past two decades, which is in line with the modernisation of its military, Mr Neill says.
But, he adds, “if [Trump] is suggesting that his rapport with Xi Jinping will have any bearing on Xi’s approach to the Taiwan Strait, I think he’s deluding himself.”
China has long vowed to “reunify” with Taiwan and has not ruled out the use of force to take it.
It has in recent years ramped up pressure over Taipei with military drills and regular incursions into its waters and airspace. Taiwan in turn has plans to boost defence spending to modernise its armed forces.
While Trump has downplayed Beijing’s ongoing drills, his administration had recently announced a $11bn (£8.2bn) weapons package to Taiwan, which includes advanced rocket launchers, self-propelled howitzers and a variety of missiles.
The US has formal ties with Beijing rather than Taiwan, and has walked a tight diplomatic rope for decades. But it remains a powerful ally of Taiwan and the island’s biggest arms supplier.
China hit back at the sale with sanctions on several US defence firms. Its foreign ministry also said that any attempt to “contain China by using Taiwan will absolutely not succeed”.
Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi said on Tuesday that China must “firmly counter” what he described as “continuous provocations from pro-independence forces in Taiwan” and the “large-scale arms sales” from the US.
He added that the “complete national reunification” of Taiwan was “a historical mission we must accomplish”.
