MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 01st June, 2022) China's armed forces have conducted a joint patrol involving different service branches in Taiwan's airspace and waters, dubbing it a necessary measure amid an alleged collusion between Washington and Taipei, a spokesman for the Chinese army's Eastern Theater Command said on Wednesday.
On Monday, Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense said that 30 Chinese military aircraft entered the island's airspace in the southwest, with the US saying next day that it is monitoring the situation.
"The Eastern Theater Command of the Chinese People's Liberation Army has recently organized joint combat-readiness security patrol involving multiple services and arms in the waters and airspace around the Taiwan Island. These actions are necessary response to the collusion activities between the US and the 'Taiwan independence' forces," Sen. Col. Shi Yi said in a statement published by the Chinese defense ministry.
The spokesman called Washington out for taking unilateral steps concerning Taiwan and accused it of hypocrisy, secretly and openly inciting and supporting pro-independence forces, which he said could put Taiwan in a dangerous situation and backfire on Washington as well.
The patrol was carried out amid a three-day visit to Taiwan by US Senator Tammy Duckworth. She arrived Monday as part of a tour in the Indo-Pacific region, and on Tuesday she met with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen.
Taiwan alienated Beijing after becoming a stronghold of the Chinese Nationalist Party (the Kuomintang) that suffered defeat to the Communist Party in a civil war in 1949. The Chinese mainland and the island resumed business and informal contacts in the late 1980s. Beijing opposes any official contacts of foreign countries with Taiwan and considers Chinese sovereignty over the island indisputable.
The US has supported pro-independence forces in Taiwan and sold the island weapons. The Chinese Foreign Ministry has repeatedly said that the One China principle is a political foundation of China-US relations and that violations by Washington of its own obligations have been jeopardizing cooperation between the two countries, threatening peace and stability.
