{"id":61048,"date":"2018-03-21T06:50:01","date_gmt":"2018-03-21T06:50:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/?p=61048"},"modified":"2018-03-21T06:50:01","modified_gmt":"2018-03-21T06:50:01","slug":"taiwan-shadows-china-carrier-group-xi-warning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/world-news\/taiwan-shadows-china-carrier-group-xi-warning.html","title":{"rendered":"Taiwan shadows China carrier group after Xi warning"},"content":{"rendered":"

Taiwan shadows China carrier group after Xi warning<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

Taiwan has sent ships and aircraft to shadow a Chinese aircraft carrier group through the narrow Taiwan Strait, its defense ministry said on Wednesday, after Chinese President Xi Jinping offered his strongest warning against Taiwan separatism to date.<\/span><\/p>\n

China claims Taiwan as its sacred territory and considers the self-ruled island a wayward province, which Xi said on Tuesday would face the \u201cpunishment of history\u201d for any attempt at separatism.<\/span><\/p>\n

Taiwan\u2019s defense ministry said the carrier group, led by China\u2019s sole operational aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, entered the waterway late on Tuesday, but kept on its western side.<\/span><\/p>\n

By midday on Wednesday it has left Taiwan\u2019s air defense identification zone heading southwest, the ministry said, adding it looked like China was conducting drills.<\/span><\/p>\n

Taiwan\u2019s military sent ships and aircraft to shadow the carrier group the entire way, but spotted nothing out of the ordinary and people in Taiwan should not be concerned, it added.<\/span><\/p>\n

China\u2019s Defence Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/span><\/p>\n

In January, the Liaoning sailed twice through the Taiwan Strait, in what China said was part of routine drills.<\/span><\/p>\n

Taiwan says China has ramped up military exercises around the island in the past year or so. The island is one of China\u2019s most sensitive issues and a potential military flashpoint.<\/span><\/p>\n

China\u2019s hostility towards Taiwan has risen since the 2016 election of President Tsai Ing-wen, a member of the island\u2019s pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party.<\/span><\/p>\n

China suspects Tsai wants to push for formal independence, which would cross a red line for Communist Party leaders in Beijing, though Tsai has said she wants to maintain the status quo and is committed to ensuring peace.<\/span><\/p>\n

China\u2019s Taiwan Affairs Office on Monday expressed anger at Taiwan Premier William Lai\u2019s description of the island as a sovereign independent country, calling it a \u201cserious provocation\u201d and denying that Taiwan was, or could ever be, one.<\/span><\/p>\n

China has also been infuriated by a law signed last week by U.S. President Donald Trump that encourages the United States to send senior officials to Taiwan to meet Taiwanese counterparts, and vice versa.<\/span><\/p>\n

U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Alex Wong is in Taiwan this week, where he is set to speak at a business event in Taipei later on Wednesday with Tsai.<\/span><\/p>\n

Source:-https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/article\/us-taiwan-usa\/taiwan-shadows-china-carrier-group-after-xi-warning-idUSKBN1GX08U<\/span><\/p>\n

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