SerpApi.Org
China’s military begun two days of live-fire drills in the Taiwan Strait on Thursday, a day after U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned against any attempts to disrupt trade flows in one of the world’s most important waterways.
China‘s maritime safety agency announced back-to-back exercise areas off Dongshan Island, part of the eastern Chinese province of Fujian, after Rubio met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Manila.
Rubio, who was visiting the Philippines for a regional summit, told reporters on Wednesday that he and Wang had discussed Taiwan, the self-ruled democracy long claimed China as part of its territory. Taipei rejects Beijing’s sovereignty claims.
Rubio said Chinese military maneuvers around the island—one of the U.S.’s top trade partners and a key supplier of microchips to America’s strategic industries—”run contrary to the spirit of…strategic stability,” referring to the detente reached by President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping at the Beijing summit in May.
China claims jurisdiction over Taiwan, including its surrounding waters, and has deployed warships and law enforcement vessels to conduct regular patrols in a bid to assert control.
Rubio said in an X post on Thursday: “No nation has the right to restrict the free flow of commerce and travel through international waterways, including in the Taiwan Strait.”
Newsweek reached out to the Chinese and Taiwanese foreign ministries with requests for comment.
This is a developing story. Updates to follow.
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