BEIJING, Jan 9 (Reuters) – China’s military said it had carried out combat drills around Taiwan on Sunday, the second such exercises in less than a month, with the island’s defence ministry reporting it detected 57 Chinese aircraft.

Reuters:

BEIJING, Jan 9 – China’s military said it had carried out combat drills around Taiwan on Sunday, the second such exercises in less than a month, with the island’s defence ministry reporting it detected 57 Chinese aircraft.

China views democratically-governed Taiwan as its own territory and has been ramping up military, political and economic pressure to assert those claims.

The People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theatre Command said in a statement late on Sunday that its forces had organised “joint combat readiness patrols and actual combat drills” in the sea and airspace around Taiwan, focused on land strikes and sea assaults.

The aim of the exercises was to test joint combat capabilities and “resolutely counter the provocative actions of external forces and Taiwan independence separatist forces”, it added in a brief statement.

Taiwan’s defence ministry said on Monday that over the previous 24 hours it had detected 57 Chinese aircraft and four naval vessels operating around the island, including 28 aircraft which flew into Taiwan’s air defence zone.