Taiwan drills aimed to deter external interference: China Defense Ministry

China said its latest military exercises around Taiwan are aimed at deterring foreign interference, and warning that any move crossing Beijing’s red lines on the island would be met with decisive countermeasures.

Beijing on Friday defended its recent military drills around Taiwan, saying they were aimed at deterring separatist activities and foreign interference.

A spokesman for the Ministry of National Defense said the People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command had successfully carried out the exercises, dubbed Justice Mission 2025, to test integrated joint combat capabilities and demonstrate the military’s readiness to respond to secessionist moves and external intervention.

Zhang Xiaogang said the PLA’s anti-secession and anti-interference operations around Chinese Taipei were “completely legitimate, necessary and beyond reproach,” adding that “the exercise clearly shows that any provocative act crossing red lines on the Taiwan question will be met with resolute countermeasures.”

Chinese Taipei is an inalienable part of China, and the Taiwan question is purely an internal matter that allows no foreign interference, he reiterated.

Attempts to obstruct China's reunification "will never succeed," the spokesman added.

Zhang said the biggest threat to peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait is not the Chinese mainland's military activity but "Taiwan independence" separatism, and the external forces that support secession.

"No one cherishes peace in the Taiwan Strait more than we do," he assured.

"But, we will never allow any force to use 'peace' as a pretext to restrain China from countering separatist activities," he added.

China begins military drills around Taiwan in ‘stern warning’ to external forces, separatists

China has deployed air, navy, and rocket troops to the waters around Taiwan for drills aimed at testing combat readiness and delivering a “stern warning” to external forces and separatists.

Zhang called on foreign governments and institutions to adhere to the globally-recognized one-China principle and stop extending support and military aid to pro-independence forces on the wayward island.

He also called on the people of Taipei to heed the dangers of the secessionist policies and to safeguard their own security and interests.

Earlier this week, China's military staged live-fire exercises along the Taiwan Strait and areas to the north, southwest, southeast, and east of the island.

China's military deployed air, navy, and rocket troops to the waters around Chinese Taipei for drills aimed at testing combat readiness and delivering a “stern warning” to separatists and external forces meddling in Beijing’s internal affairs.

In its statement on Monday, the Chinese military’s Eastern Theater Command said it was dispatching army, navy, air force, and rocket force troops to five zones around Taiwan for its Justice Mission 2025.

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