US bad actions and tricks are completely futile and very dangerous, says official
\n TAIPEI\/ BEIJING
\nChina said it conducted military drills around Taiwan on Friday as a US Congressional delegation visited the island in a show of support to a fellow democracy, with Beijing blaming the lawmakers for raising tensions with their \u201cprovocative\u201d trip.
\nChina\u2019s military sent frigates, bombers and fighter planes to the East China Sea and the area around Taiwan, the People\u2019s Liberation Army Eastern Theatre Command said, in a statement released as the lawmakers were holding a news conference in Taipei.
\n\u201cThis operation is in response to the recent frequent release of wrong signals by the United States on the Taiwan issue,\u201d it said, without mentioning the visiting US delegation.
\n\u201cThe US bad actions and tricks are completely futile and very dangerous. Those who play with fire will burn themselves,\u201d it said.
\nChina\u2019s Defence Ministry, in a separate statement, said the US visit was \u201cdeliberately provocative\u201d and had \u201cled to further escalation of tension in the Taiwan Strait\u201d.
\nTaiwan is a frequent source of tension between Beijing and Washington.
\nRepublican US Senator Lindsey Graham told Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen during the delegation\u2019s meeting with her that the war in Ukraine and provocative behaviour by China have united US opinion in a way not seen before.
\n\u201cTo abandon Taiwan would be to abandon democracy and freedom,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s a backlash growing in the world to thuggery\u2013to the bad guys.\u201d
\nSenator Bob Menendez, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said the technology hub is a \u201ccountry of global significance\u201d and its security has implications for the world.
\nThe bipartisan group of six lawmakers arrived for their two-day visit on Thursday, in a previously unannounced trip.
\nSuch visits, and a reference to Taiwan as a \u201ccountry\u201d, always anger Beijing, which dismisses any suggestion that Taiwan is a country. China regards the island as one of its provinces.
\nThe United States has no formal relations with Chinese-claimed Taiwan but is its most important international backer and arms supplier.
\nMenendez acknowledged the Chinese government was \u201cvery unhappy\u201d with the delegation\u2019s visit but said that would not dissuade the group from supporting Taiwan.
\n\u201cWith Taiwan producing 90% of the world\u2019s high-end semiconductor products, it is a country of global significance, consequence and impact, and therefore it should be understood the security of Taiwan has a global impact,\u201d Menendez told Tsai.
\nTaiwan has been heartened by the US support offered by the Biden administration, which has repeatedly talked of its \u201crock-solid\u201d commitment to the democratically governed island.
\nThat has added to strains in Sino-US relations.
\nRussia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine has also put Taipei on alert for any possible moves by Beijing to use the Ukraine crisis to make a move on the island. The government though has reported no sign that China is about to invade.
\nTaiwan has complained for the past two years or so of stepped-up Chinese military activity, including almost daily air force flights into Taiwan\u2019s air defence zone, but not close to the island itself.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
US bad actions and tricks are completely futile and very dangerous, says official TAIPEI\/ BEIJING China said it conducted military drills around Taiwan on Friday as a US Congressional delegation visited the island in a show of support to a fellow democracy, with Beijing blaming the lawmakers for raising tensions with their \u201cprovocative\u201d trip. China\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-255283","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n