China ends days of military drills over Taiwan says it is ready to ‘crush’ attempts at Taiwanese independence

The Chinese military said on Tuesday it had ended several days of military drills around Taiwan, saying the drills proved China is ready to “crush” any attempts at Taiwanese independence or foreign interference in the region.

The Eastern Theatre Command of the People’s Liberation Army issued a statement on Tuesday saying the Chinese military had, in the past three days, carried out testing of several different combat units “under actual combat conditions,” according to Reuters. The ETC added a dire warning to Taiwan and its allies: “The troops in the theater are ready to fight all the time and can fight at any time, resolutely crushing any form of Taiwan independence separatism and foreign interference.”

The announcement from Beijing that the drills had ended came on the heels of an international trip by the Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen to South America and then California to meet with US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. The US has been a strong ally to Taiwan in the ongoing tensions between the island nation and China, which continues to stake its claim over the island nation. 

Beijing reportedly imposed a travel ban and other sanctions on anyone who was involved with the planning of Tsai’s visit to Los Angeles, and upping its military activity in the region over Easter weekend. Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry responded by calling the sanctions “irrational and absurd.”