China says Taiwan encirclement drills a ‘serious warning’

BEIJING — Recent Chinese air and sea drills simulating an encirclement of Taiwan were intended as a “serious warning” to pro-independence politicians on the self-governing island and their foreign supporters, China said Wednesday, as signs emerged that Beijing will take further action. “The People’s Liberation Army recently organized and conducted a series of countermeasures in the Taiwan Strait and surrounding waters, which is a serious warning against the collusion and provocation of Taiwan independence separatist forces and external forces,” Zhu Fenglian, a spokesperson for the Cabinet’s Taiwan Affairs Office, said at a biweekly news conference. Any conflict between the sides could draw in the U.S., Taiwan’s closest ally, which is required by law to consider all threats to the island as matters of “grave concern.” On Wednesday, Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense said it tracked 35 flights by People’s Liberation Army warplanes within the last 24 hours, and eight navy vessels in the waters surrounding the island. Zhu also repeated China’s assertion that its military threats are “targeted at Taiwan’s independence separatist activities and interference from external forces, and by no means at our compatriots in Taiwan.” What that means in practical terms isn’t clear, although Beijing has long exploited political divisions within Taiwanese society, which boasts a robust democracy and strong civil liberties. The Chinese military issued a threat as it concluded the exercises, saying its troops “can fight at any time to resolutely smash any form of ‘Taiwan independence’ and foreign interference attempts.” In August, after then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan, China conducted missile strikes on targets in the seas around Taiwan and sent warships and warplanes over the median line of the Taiwan Strait.