China on Monday expressed anger over a planned visit to the United States next month by William Lai, Taiwan's vice president and frontrunner to succeed it, while Taiwanese forces tracked 11 Chinese military aircraft and 6 warships around Taiwan in the past 24 hours.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said her government had already filed a diplomatic complaint with the United States over Taiwanese Vice President Tsai Ing-wen's stoppage in its territory.
In contrast, she called on the Taiwanese government not to overreact to what it described as a mere stoppage. China considers Taiwan part of its territory and has repeatedly vowed to take it back one day, by force if necessary.
William Lai, who polls suggest will win January's presidential election, angered China in 2018 as prime minister when he told parliament that he was a "servant of Taiwan's independence" and was known as a staunch supporter of the island's independence.
In Taipei, Taiwanese Vice Foreign Minister Alexander Yue En Lai announced today that William Lai will attend the inauguration of Paraguay's new president, Santiago Pena, in the middle of next month in Asuncion, with the aim of "demonstrating the importance Taiwan attaches to its diplomatic relations with Paraguay," before William Lai stops in the United States.
Yue said the vice president's visit to the United States would be arranged, similar to what happened in the past, when Taiwanese officials stopped in the United States during visits to Central and South American countries.
Asked if Taiwan was concerned about the possibility of China holding military exercises, the Taiwanese spokesman stressed that such visits were not new.
Paraguay is the only country in South America that officially recognizes Taiwan, with only 13 countries in the world recognizing Taiwan.
Visits by U.S. officials to Taipei and Taiwanese officials to Washington have previously raised heightened tensions, going as far as unprecedented Chinese exercises near Taiwan earlier this year.
Aircraft & Ships
Meanwhile, Taiwan's Ministry of Defense reported today that its forces tracked 11 military aircraft and 6 Chinese warships in the vicinity of Taiwan in the past 24 hours.
The ministry said in a statement that the Chinese planes did not cross the middle line of the Taiwan Strait.
In return, Taiwan's military has sent patrol planes and ships to warn the Chinese side, and has deployed missile systems to monitor the movements of Chinese fighter jets.
Over the past few months, Chinese military activity around Taiwan has increased, and Chinese warplanes have repeatedly crossed the so-called midline of the Taiwan Strait, which serves as an informal barrier between the two sides.
Days earlier, Taiwan said Chinese warplanes had flown less than 50 kilometers from its coast.
In response to China's military moves, Taiwan earlier this month carried out live-fire missile drills ahead of the island's annual military exercises, as it seeks to raise its preparations against China, where it plans to increase its production of anti-ship missiles.
In April, the Chinese military conducted a three-day exercise around the island in response to a meeting in the United States between US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen.