Taiwan’s armed forces fired missiles on Tuesday.
Taipei accuses Beijing of preparing an invasion.
The operation follows China’s military operation around Taiwan.
For its part, Beijing has announced that it will continue military exercises.
“China’s position is legitimate, reasonable and legal, and our actions are resolute, strong and proportionate, aimed at warning the perpetrators and punishing Taiwan’s proindependence forces. We will steadfastly protect China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and resolutely dissuade the United States from containing China on the Taiwan issue, and we will vigorously shatter the Taiwanese authorities’ illusion of relying on the United States for independence,” said Wang Wenbin, a spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry.
China sees Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan as a provocation
Last week, China fired missiles around Taiwan during a series of military maneuvers, the largest such operation conducted by China near the island of 23 million people.
The President of the United States preferred to put what had happened into perspective. “I’m not worried, I’m worried that they’re mobilizing so much, but I don’t think they’re going to do anything else,” Joe Biden commented.
The military maneuvers are Beijing’s response to Secretary of State Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan, which Chinese authorities see as a provocation. It had been decades since a senior US official had visited the East Asian island.