TAIPEI: China sent warships and aircraft near Taiwan for a second day on Friday and said the island remains its “inseparable part”, after President Tsai Ing-wen angered Beijing by meeting US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

Three Chinese warships sailed in waters surrounding the self-ruled island, while a fighter jet and an anti-submarine helicopter also crossed Taiwan’s air defence identification zone (ADIZ), said the defence ministry in Taipei.

Tsai returned on Friday after visiting Taiwan’s dwindling band of official diplomatic allies in Latin America, with two US stopovers that included meetings with McCarthy and other lawmakers.

“We let the international community see that Taiwan is more united when facing pressure and threats,” she told reporters, describing her trip as a success.

“We will never yield to suppression and we will not stop interacting with the world because of any hindrance.”

Hours before her meeting with McCarthy in Los Angeles on Wednesday, China sent its Shandong aircraft carrier through Taiwan’s south-eastern waters on its way to the western Pacific.

Beijing said on Friday that “Taiwan is an inseparable part of China”, after repeatedly warning against the Tsai-McCarthy meeting.

“China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity will never be divided,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said at a regular press briefing.

“The future of Taiwan lies in reunification with the motherland.”

Journalists on Pingtan island, China’s nearest outpost to Taiwan, saw a military ship and at least three army helicopters transiting through the strait on Friday afternoon.

A silver-grey tugboat cruised southwards, about one kilometre from the shore, while the two aircraft flew northwards over the waters at a fairly low altitude.

It was not immediately clear if the movements represented an enhancement of normal patrols that Beijing conducts in the region.

Last August, China deployed warships, missiles and fighter jets around Taiwan for its largest show of force in years, following a trip to the island by McCarthy’s predecessor Nancy Pelosi.

Beijing’s response to the Tsai-McCarthy meeting has so far been more muted and China’s ADIZ incursions in the past two days have not risen beyond the activities of an average week.

The ADIZ is not the same as Taiwan’s territorial airspace, including a far greater area that overlaps with part of China’s own ADIZ and even some of the mainland.

Taiwan was on alert, with Premier Chen Chien-jen saying that its defence and security agencies were keeping a close eye on developments.

Published in Dawn, April 8th, 2023