Taiwan reports China air force conducting long-range military exercises in nearby waters
Japan sends two fighter jets in response to flight near its southern islands
Chinese military aircraft flew over waterways near Taiwan on Saturday as part of long-range exercises, Taiwan said, the first such flights since a telephone call between Taiwan’s leader and US president-elect Donald Trump irked China.
China claims self-ruled Taiwan as its own and has never renounced the use of force to take back what it deems a wayward province.
Trump’s call with Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen on December 2 was the first between a US president-elect or president and a Taiwan leader since President Jimmy Carter switched diplomatic recognition to China from Taiwan in 1979.
China lodged a diplomatic protest over the call and blamed Taiwan for what it called a “petty” move.
But there was no indication the exercise by its military aircraft was a response to the telephone call.
The Chinese jets flew north to south and entered the Miyako Strait around Japan’s southern islands as well as the Bashi Channel south of Taiwan, but did not enter Taiwan’s air defence identification zone, Taiwan’s defence ministry said in a statement.
