Taiwan holds air defence drill ahead of President's Pacific trip

28/11/2024 12:10

        Taiwan's military held an early morning air defence drill on Thursday to test its response and engagement procedures, ahead of a trip by President Lai Ching-te at the end of the week to the Pacific that will include U.S. stopovers.
        
        China is likely to launch military drills in the coming days near Taiwan, using Lai's upcoming trip to the Pacific and scheduled U.S. transit as a pretext, according to assessments by Taiwan and regional security officials.
        
        China claims democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory and says Lai is a "separatist". Lai says only Taiwan's people can decide their future and has repeatedly offered talks with Beijing that have been rebuffed.
        
        Taiwan's air force command said in a statement that made no mention of Lai's overseas trip that for a two-hour period starting from 5 a.m. (2100 GMT Wednesday) aircraft, ships and missile systems were involved in an "overall air defence battle plan exercise".