BEIJING, January 9. /TASS/. The latest exercises by China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) in Taiwan’s waters and airspace was meant to thwart any foreign interference in peace around the island, a spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry told a briefing on Monday.

According to Wang Wenbin, "The exercises were aimed against any external interference in the peaceful situation in the Taiwan Strait."

On Sunday, the PLA’s Eastern Theater Command announced drills in the waters and airspace around Taiwan, aimed at practicing strikes on ground targets and offensive actions at sea. In the past 24 hours, four warships and 57 aircraft belonging to the PLA were detected near the island, of which 28 planes crossed the so-called median line of the Taiwan Strait and entered the island’s air defense identification zone, the Taiwanese defense agency reported.

Taiwan has been governed by its local administration since 1949, when the Kuomintang’s remaining forces headed by Chiang Kai-shek (1887-1975) were defeated in the Chinese Civil War and took refuge on the island. Taiwan has preserved the flag and several other symbols of the Republic of China that had existed before the Communists took over the mainland. According to Beijing’s official position supported by most countries, including Russia, the Island of Taiwan is one of China’s provinces.