By JOHANNES NEUDECKER and YU-TZU CHIU

dpa (TNS)

BEIJING — China has begun a large-scale military exercise around the island of Taiwan, the military said in a statement released on Tuesday.

The joint exercise involving the army, navy, air force and missile unit consists of approaching Taiwan from different directions to ‘test joint operations capabilities’ of its troops, the spokesman for the Chinese military’s Eastern Theatre Command, Shi Yi, said.

‘It is a stern warning and forceful deterrence against ‘Taiwan Independence’ separatist forces, and it is a legitimate and necessary action to safeguard China’s sovereignty and national unity,’ the statement added.

Taiwan’s Defence Ministry said it had been monitoring the movements of Chinese military assets since Saturday.

The ministry told a news conference late Tuesday that a total of 71 Chinese military aircraft had been detected during the day, with 36 crossing the median line of the Taiwan Strait. Additionally, 21 Chinese naval vessels and four China Coast Guard ships were observed.

The East China Sea branch of the China Coast Guard said on Tuesday that multiple coastguard vessel formations carried out law enforcement patrols in the waters around Taiwan. These operations involved exercises such as boarding inspections, interceptions and detentions.

In a statement on Tuesday, Taiwan’s Coast Guard Administration (CGA) reported that Chinese maritime police vessels were detected approaching the waters near the outlying islands of Matsu and Kinmen, which are close to China’s Fujian province.

Taiwan’s coastguard promptly deployed patrol boats to expel four intruding China Coast Guard ships from Taiwan’s restricted waters, it said. Photos of the two Chinese maritime police vessels were also released.

In a statement, the Taiwan Defence Ministry said that China continued to escalate its military activities around Taiwan and in the Indo-Pacific region, increasing military threats not only regionally but also globally.

China’s open defiance of the international order and destabilization of the region had made it the greatest ‘troublemaker’ in the global community, the statement added.

Taiwan’s presidential office strongly condemned China’s actions.

Office spokeswoman Karen Kuo said in a statement that maintaining regional peace and stability was a shared responsibility.

Kuo called on China to return to a rules-based international order and contribute to regional security and stability.

Taiwan Premier Cho Jung-tai stressed that, given the changing international economic and trade situation, every government should continue to care for internal social stability and the well-being of its people. ‘Solely displaying military force is not something that should be expected from modern, progressive nations,’ Cho said.