TAIPEI (Reuters) – Taiwan President Lai Ching-te thanked the air force on Friday for their “outstanding” work during Chinese war games around the island earlier this week, telling them to keep up the good work.
China’s military said Monday’s day of war games were a warning to “separatist acts”, vowing to take further action against the democratically governed island Beijing claims as its own territory if needed.
Visiting air force headquarters in Taipei, Lai was connected by radio to what sounded like a fighter pilot who the president identified by their call sign, “Viper One”, in a video released by the presidential office.
“Thank you for your hard work for our country. Please continue to guard the airspace of the Taiwan Strait to ensure national security, and have a safe and smooth flight,” Lai said, before adding in English “happy landing”.
In subsequent comments made to personnel inside air force command, Lai praised their performance.
“We were all on full alert during these Chinese exercises and did our best. The performance was outstanding. Thank you very much and please keep up the good work in our duty to protect and defend our country.”
Taiwan’s air force, which is dwarfed by that of China’s, has repeatedly scrambled in to see off almost daily missions by the Chinese military around the island.
During Monday’s drills, Taiwan said it had detected 153 Chinese aircraft, the highest figure for a single day.
Lai and his government reject Beijing’s sovereignty claims. Lai has offered talks many times with China, but been rebuffed.
(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Stephen Coates)
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