BEIJING
\nChina vowed on Monday to \u201cfirmly defend\u201d its sovereignty and insisted Taiwan was an \u201cinalienable\u201d part of its territory, after the island said it had detected Chinese warships and coast guard vessels in its waters. \u201cChina will firmly defend its national sovereignty and territorial integrity,\u201d foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said, as the island\u2019s military launched combat readiness drills.
\nTaiwan\u2019s defence ministry said it also spotted Chinese coast guard vessels and that Beijing\u2019s People\u2019s Liberation Army (PLA) had restricted the airspace off the Chinese coast. There has been intense speculation about the possibility of China launching military drills in response to Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te\u2019s trip to the Pacific which included stopovers in Hawaii and Guam.
\nAsked about the possibility of drills around the island and the claims by Taipei, Mao insisted: \u201cTaiwan does not have a ministry of defence.\u201d\u201dTaiwan is an inalienable part of China\u2019s territory and the Taiwan issue is China\u2019s internal affair,\u201d Mao said. Taiwan regards itself as a sovereign nation with its own government, military, and currency.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BEIJING China vowed on Monday to \u201cfirmly defend\u201d its sovereignty and insisted Taiwan was an \u201cinalienable\u201d part of its territory, after the island said it had detected Chinese warships and coast guard vessels in its waters. \u201cChina will firmly defend its national sovereignty and territorial integrity,\u201d foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said, as the island\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":448440,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-448399","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n