BEIJING, July 15. /TASS/. The Chinese authorities view maneuvers off Taiwan as a futile show of military strength, said Zhu Fenglian, spokesperson for the Taiwan Affairs Office of China’s State Council.
"In the face of the mighty People’s Liberation Army (PLA) of China, any maneuvers conducted by the island’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) are merely an empty show of force," she emphasized at a weekly briefing.
The DPP "is futilely seeking to achieve independence with the use of military force," which has impacted the situation in the Taiwan Strait, Zhu added as she blamed the "tensions and instability" in that area on the Taipei administration. Zhu also warned that similar attempts by the DPP "will not prevent the inevitable demise of separatists in Taiwan" and "the broader historical trend toward inevitable reunification between the island and mainland China."
Earlier, Taipei began five-day maneuvers to enhance coordination between different types of troops. The drills come against the backdrop of active PLA exercises in adjacent waters, the Taiwanese media said.
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. Beijing considers Taiwan a province of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), a position supported by the majority of countries, including Russia.