Chinese warships and coastguard vessels are withdrawing from waters around Taiwan, the island’s coastguard said on Wednesday, December 31st, with Beijing’s military drills appearing to be ‘over.’
China launched missiles and deployed dozens of fighter jets, navy ships, and coastguard vessels around Taiwan on Monday and Tuesday in live-fire drills aimed at simulating a blockade of the self-ruled island’s key ports and assaults on maritime targets.
Taipei slammed the war games as “highly provocative and reckless” and said they failed to impose a blockade.
China’s Communist Party has never ruled democratic Taiwan, but Beijing claims the island of 23 million people is part of its territory and has threatened to use force to annex it.
Beijing has not yet publicly declared the drills to be finished.
China’s drills followed a bumper round of arms sales to Taipei by the United States, Taiwan’s main security backer, and comments from Japan’s prime minister that the use of force against Taiwan could warrant a military response from Tokyo.
There has been a chorus of international criticism of China’s drills. Beijing called these “irresponsible.”
