China on Saturday began large-scale military exercises in the Taiwan Strait aimed at training a "complete encirclement" of the island, driven by anger over Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen meeting with US House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy in the United States.

The drills involve destroyers, rocket launcher speedboats, fighter jets, supply planes and jamming devices, which Taiwan has seen as a threat to stability in the Asia-Pacific region.

Chinese broadcaster CCTV reported that "the drills focus on the ability to control the sea, airspace and communications. to create a deterrent force and a complete encirclement" of Taiwan, lasting for 3 days.

The exact location of the new drills has not been determined, as the narrowest part of the Taiwan Strait between China's coast and the island is about 130 kilometers wide.

A giant screen on a Chinese street broadcasts news footage of a fighter jet preparing for the drills (Reuters)

China views with dismay the years-long rapprochement between Taiwanese authorities and the United States, which provides the island with important military support despite having no formal relations.

Beijing considers Taiwan, with a population of 23 million, an integral part of China's territory and has not yet been able to reunite it with the rest of its territory since the end of China's civil war in 1949.

The United States recognized the People's Republic of China in 1979 and is theoretically assumed to have no formal contact with Taiwan under the "one-China principle" that Beijing defends.


United Sword

The Chinese military announced that it had begun combat readiness patrols and exercises called "United Sword" around Taiwan, after explaining that it would be in the Taiwan Strait and to the north, south and east of Taiwan.

He said in a statement that the exercises are a serious warning to what he described as Taiwanese separatists, because of what he described as their complicity with external forces, saying that the exercises are "necessary to preserve the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country."

Maritime authorities in eastern Fujian said live-fire exercises would be held on Monday in the Taiwan Strait near the coast of the province, which lies opposite the island.

Military analyst Song Zhongping warned that these "operational" exercises are meant to prove that "if provocations intensify," the Chinese military will be ready to "settle the Taiwan issue once and for all."

James Char, a research fellow in the China Programme at the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies in Singapore, said the drills underscore Beijing's "reliance on nationalist rhetoric in addressing its domestic audience and scoring political points at home".

"It would be a mistake to overlook that the (Chinese) military began its exercises this time after French President Emmanuel Macron concluded his visit to China," he told AFP.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen also visited Beijing and met with Chinese President Xi Jinping, who assured her during Thursday's meeting that "anyone who thinks China will make concessions on Taiwan is delusional."

Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen has condemned what she called China's "authoritarian expansionism" and said it threatened the stability of the region (Getty Images)

Threat to stability

Taiwan said the drills threatened "stability and security" in the Asia-Pacific region.

Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen on Saturday condemned China's "authoritarian expansionism" and said the island "will continue to work with the United States and other countries. to defend the values of freedom and democracy."

A Chinese military vessel was spotted in waters near Taiwan around the island of Bingtan, some 126 kilometers away.

The Taiwanese Ministry of Defense reported tracking 42 Chinese military aircraft in the vicinity of Taiwan this morning, and the ministry said that 29 fighters penetrated the midline in the Taiwan Strait, and the ministry monitored 8 warships around the island with China's announcement of the start of exercises.

In response, the ministry said it had sent warplanes and warships and used land-based missile systems to monitor Chinese military aircraft.

Hours after Beijing announced the military exercises, Tsai met with a U.S. congressional delegation visiting the island.

Michael McCall, the head of the delegation and responsible for sales of U.S. military equipment to foreign countries, said Washington was working to supply Taiwan with weapons quickly.

"We are doing what we can in Congress to accelerate these sales and provide you with the weapons you need to defend yourselves, and we will provide training for your military, not for war but for peace," he said.

Last August, Beijing held unprecedented military exercises around Taiwan when then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited the island.