BEIJING, December 29. /TASS/. The drills conducted by the Chinese People's Liberation Army off the coast of Taiwan are a necessary measure to protect the country's sovereignty and a direct response to the interference of outside forces in China’s internal affairs, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Lin Jian told reporters.

"These are necessary actions to protect state sovereignty and territorial integrity, as well as a decisive response to the actions of external forces that are trying to use Taiwan to contain China, arm the island, and push the situation in the strait to the dangerous brink of war," he pointed out.

The diplomat added that the Democratic Progressive Party administration is stubbornly sticking to its position and trying to "let the wolf into the house," which would turn the island into a "powder keg," which reveals their true nature as "destroyers of peace and instigators of war." Earlier, the PLA's Eastern Theater Command announced that it would conduct exercises involving live-fire drills near Taiwan.

In mid-December, the Focus Taiwan news outlet reported that the US government had announced its approval of the sale of several arms packages to Taiwan, including HIMARS missile systems, anti-tank missiles, and drones, with a total estimated value of $11.1 billion.

Taiwan has been governed by its own administration since 1949, when the remnants of the Kuomintang forces led by Chiang Kai-shek (1887-1975) fled there after their defeat in the Chinese Civil War. Since then, Taiwan has retained the flag and some other attributes of the former Republic of China that existed on the mainland before the Communists took power. Official Beijing considers Taiwan a province of the People’s Republic of China.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview with TASS that Moscow would support China in defending its national unity and territorial integrity if the situation in the Taiwan Strait were to escalate. He recalled that the procedure for such situations is outlined in the Treaty on Good-Neighborliness, Friendship, and Cooperation with the People's Republic of China, signed on July 16, 2001, which is fundamental to bilateral relations.