The United States said today that it is closely monitoring China’s actions in the Taiwan Strait and that Beijing’s military exercises are undermining peace and stability in the region. “Our channels of communication with China remain open and we have repeatedly urged restraint,” a senior US official said.

China’s military said earlier today that it had “successfully completed” military exercises aimed at encircling the autonomous island of Taiwan, which Beijing considers a Chinese province slated for reunification with the mainland, for three days.

The drills have been denounced by Taiwan and the US, with Washington calling for “restraint” while deploying a destroyer in waters claimed by Beijing. Conversely, for Russia, which has declared a “boundless” cooperation with China, Beijing has the right to respond to repeated “provocations” against it and conduct military exercises around Taiwan.

“China has the sovereign right to react (to) provocative actions” by the US “primarily by conducting military exercises,” Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

Against this backdrop of tension, the US State Department announced today that Secretary of State Anthony Blinken will travel to China’s neighbor Vietnam at the end of the week, where he will discuss “our shared vision of a prosperous Indo-Pacific region , will be peaceful and enduring”.

The Chinese military drills that began on Saturday were aimed at Beijing’s protest over a meeting that Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen had with US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Wednesday.

The drills “are a serious warning against collusion between separatist forces seeking ‘Taiwan independence’ and external forces, as well as their provocative activities,” Chinese military spokesman Xi Yi warned.

After the end of the military drills, Taiwan’s foreign ministry accused China of undermining “peace and stability” in the region.

The US showed it wanted to make a show of force too: the US destroyer USS Milius today conducted a “free navigation operation” in an area of ​​the South China Sea claimed by Beijing. An “intrusion” that China immediately denounced.

Japan announced that its fighter jets had taken off in recent days in response to those taking off and landing from the aircraft carrier Shandong.

– “Warning” –

China resents the rapprochement in recent years between Taiwanese authorities and the United States, which, despite the absence of official relations, provides the island with substantial military support.

Beijing views Taiwan as a province that has yet to be reunited with the rest of its territory after the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949. China aims for this reunification even by force if necessary.

Monday’s live-fire drills were planned in the Taiwan Strait off the coast of Fujian (east), the province across from the island, according to Chinese authorities.

The last major military deployment around the island had taken place in August. Then China conducted unprecedented military exercises around Taiwan and fired missiles in response to a visit to the island by then-Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Democrat Nancy Pelosi.