China recently held military exercises around Taiwan as a “serious warning” to the United States, state media reported. President Joe Biden spoke in Tokyo on Tuesday with the leaders of India, Japan and Australia about China’s increasing threat to Taiwan.
Beijing considers Taiwan a renegade province and earlier this week reacted furiously to high-profile statements by Biden, who said the US is prepared to use force to defend the island nation against Chinese aggression.
A Biden spokesperson toned down those words shortly afterwards. The president himself later added that US policy towards Taiwan is unchanged.
While the leaders of the so-called Quad were meeting in Tokyo, Chinese and Russian warplanes flew jointly over the Sea of Japan on Tuesday. Japanese Defense Minister Nubuo Kishi called those flights “provocations”. According to China, it was a joint air patrol, which is part of an annual military exercise.
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