BEIJING: China launched military drills around Taiwan on Saturday, in what it called a “stern warning” to the self-ruled island’s government following.

Dubbed “United Sharp Sword”, the three-day operation will run until Monday, the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Eastern Theatre Command said in a statement.

Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen Tsai immediately denounced the drills, pledging to work with “the US and other like-minded countries” in the face of “continued authoritarian expansionism”.

China’s war games will send planes, ships and personnel into “the maritime areas and air space of the Taiwan Strait, off the northern and southern coasts of the island, and to the island’s east”, said Shi Yin, a PLA spokesman.

Exercises on Monday will include live-fire drills off the coast of China’s Fujian province, which faces Taiwan, the local maritime authority said.

A meeting between President Tsai Beijing and US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in California.

China views democratic, self-ruled Taiwan as part of its territory and has vowed to one day seize it, by force if necessary.

“These operations serve as a stern warning against the collusion between separatist forces seeking ‘Taiwan independence’ and external forces and against their provocative activities,” the PLA’s Shi said.

“The operations are necessary for safeguarding China’s national sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

Taiwan’s defence ministry said eight Chinese warships and 42 fighter jets were detected around the island on Saturday.

The ministry expressed “solemn condemnation of such irrational actions”, adding the detections — which included 29 jets crossing Taiwan’s median line, the largest number yet this year — took place between 6 and 11 am local time (2200 GMT to 0300 GMT).

China was using Tsai’s US visit as an “excuse to conduct military exercises, which has seriously undermined peace, stability and security in the region”, the ministry said.

The drills also follow the departure from Beijing of French President Emmanuel Macron and EU chief Ursula von der Leyen, who were in China to urge Xi Jinping to help bring an end to the war in Ukraine.

Last August, China deployed warships, missiles and fighter jets around Taiwan in its largest show of force in years, following a trip to the island by McCarthy’s predecessor, Nancy Pelosi.

McCarthy, who is second in line to the US presidency, had originally planned to go to Taiwan himself.

The decision to meet in California instead was viewed as a compromise that would underscore support for Taiwan but avoid inflaming tensions with Beijing.

On Saturday, there were no immediate signs of heightened military activity on Pingtan, a southwestern Chinese island that is the closest point on the mainland to Taiwan.

A handful of cargo ships cruised through the waters near the coastline, while tourists in sunglasses and baseball caps snapped selfies on the viewing platforms.

But Fujian’s provincial maritime authority has warned vessels not to enter waters near the live-fire drills on Monday.

Tsai returned to Taiwan on Friday after visiting her island’s dwindling band of official diplomatic allies in Latin America, with two US stopovers that included meetings with McCarthy and other lawmakers.

Hours before her meeting with McCarthy on Wednesday, China sent its Shandong aircraft carrier through Taiwan’s southeastern waters on its way to the western Pacific.

Beijing said Friday that “Taiwan is an inseparable part of China”, after repeatedly warning against the Tsai-McCarthy meeting.

“China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity will never be divided,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said at a regular press briefing.

“The future of Taiwan lies in reunification with the motherland.”

Chinese military commentator Song Zhongping said the exercises were intended to demonstrate that the Chinese army will be ready if “provocation intensifies” to “solve the Taiwan issue once and for all”.

SEOUL: North Korea on Saturday claimed it tested this week a second known type of nuclear-capable underwater attack drone designed to destroy naval vessels and ports, adding to a flurry of weapons demonstrations this year that have heightened tensions with rivals.

The report of the four-day test came a day after the nuclear envoys of the United States, South Korea and Japan met in Seoul to discuss the growing North Korean nuclear threat and called for stronger international efforts to crack down on illicit North Korean activities funding its weapons program.

The North’s official Korean Central News Agency said the drone, named “Haeil-2” after a Korean word meaning tsunamis or tidal waves, travelled underwater for more than 71 hours before successfully detonating a mock warhead in waters near the eastern port city of Tanchon on Friday. KCNA said the test proved that the weapon could strike targets 1,000 kilometres (621 miles) away with “fatal attack ability.”

North Korean state media last month reported two tests of another drone, named “Haeil-1,” and described the weapon as capable of setting off a “radioactive tsunami” to destroy enemy vessels and ports.

Analysts, however, are sceptical about whether such a device would add a meaningful new threat to North Korea’s growing nuclear arsenal built around missiles and whether it’s reasonable for the North to pursue such capabilities considering its still-limited supplies of nuclear bomb fuel. South Korea’s military has said it believes North Korean claims about Haeil-1 were likely “exaggerated or fabricated.”

On Friday, U.S. President Joe Biden’s special representative for North Korea, Sung Kim, met with his South Korean and Japanese counterparts in Seoul where they issued a joint statement calling for stronger international support to stem North Korean efforts to evade U.N. Security Council sanctions imposed over its nuclear weapons ambitions.

The envoys expressed particular concern about North Korea’s cybercrimes and illicit labour exports, which Seoul says could possibly expand as it further reopens its borders as COVID-19 fears to ease.

North Korea in 2023 alone fired around 30 missiles in 11 different launch events, including an intercontinental ballistic missile that demonstrated potential range to reach the U.S. mainland and several shorter-range weapons designed to deliver nuclear strikes on South Korean targets.

NEW DELHI:  King of Bhutan, Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, will be on a three-day state visit to New Delhi from Monday and he will hold talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, President Droupadi Murmu and External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar.

The King’s visit comes at a time when India appears miffed with Bhutan Prime Minister Lotay Tshering’s comment in an interview to Belgian newspaper Le Libre that China is an equal stakeholder in the boundary issue. “Prime Minister Tshering also denied China encroaching any territory of Bhutan, refuting earlier reports that China had constructed villages inside Bhutan. He also suggested that India, Bhutan and China collectively resolve the border dispute. This hasn’t gone down well in India,’’ said a source.

“A lot of information is circulating about Chinese facilities in Bhutan. However, we are not making a big deal about it as they are not in Bhutan. This is an international border and we know exactly what belongs to us,’’ Tshering said in the interview. Eyebrows are raised in India over the China-Bhutan talks over the status of the Doklam trijunction.

Bhutan and China are engaged in talks to settle the dispute. The Doklam plateau is at a trijunction of India, Bhutan and China. It may be recalled that in 2017 the Chinese Army began building a road in the area which led to a response from the Indian Army and an extended stand-off between the two nations. If Bhutan was to cede their area in Doklam to China, it would have China literally staring at India.

After Doklam, India’s relations with China have been at a low. Then the Galwan incident happened in 2020 and senior leaders have not minced their words to share their disapproval, be it External Affairs Minister Jaishankar or NSA Ajit Doval. Two days back at the SCO (Shanghai Corporation Organisation), National Security Advisor (NSA) Meet, NSA Ajit Doval had stated: “It is my view that the goals and vision of the SCO as enshrined in its Charter, calls upon member states to have mutual respect for sovereignty, territorial integrity of states and inviolability of state borders – non-use of force or threat international relations and seeking no unilateral military superiortiy in adjacent areas.’’ The comment is viewed as an obvious reference to China. Sources said during the course of interaction the King will have with the senior leadership in India this issue could be brought up for discussion.

SEOUL: North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles into its eastern waters Monday, continuing its weapons displays as the United States moved an aircraft carrier strike group to neighboring waters for military exercises with the South.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the two missiles were fired from a western inland area south of the North Korean capital of Pyongyang from around 7:47 a.m. to 8 a.m. and traveled around 370 kilometers (229 miles) before landing at sea. Japan’s military said the missiles flew on an “irregular” trajectory and reached a maximum altitude of 50 kilometers (31 miles) before landing outside Japan’s exclusive economic zone.

Japan has previously used the term to describe a North Korean solid-fuel missile apparently modeled after Russia’s Iskander mobile ballistic system, which is designed to be maneuverable in low-altitude flight to better evade South Korean missile defenses. North Korea also has another short-range system with similar characteristics that resembles the U.S. MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile System.

The launches came a day before the USS Nimitz and its strike group are to arrive at the South Korean port of Busan. South Korea’s Defense Ministry said in a statement that the Nimitz strike group will participate in exercises with South Korean warships on Monday in international waters near the South Korean resort island of Jeju before heading to Busan.

The launches were the North’s seventh missile event this month and underscore heightening tensions in the region as the pace of both North Korean weapons tests and the U.S.-South Korea joint military exercises has accelerated in recent months in a cycle of tit-for-tat responses.

Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said North Korea may dial up its testing activity further with more missile launches or even conducting its first nuclear test since September 2017.

The South Korean and Japanese militaries denounced the latest launches as serious provocations threatening regional peace and violating U.N. Security Council resolutions and said they were working with the United States to analyze the missiles further.

The United States and South Korea completed their biggest springtime exercises in years last week, which had included both computer simulations and life-fire field exercises. But the allies have continued their field training in a show of force against North Korea’s expanding nuclear arsenal and belligerent threats of nuclear conflict.

Jang Do Young, a spokesperson of South Korea’s navy, said during a briefing that the allies’ combined exercises involving the Nimitz strike group are aimed at sharpening joint operational capabilities and reaffirming the credibility of the U.S. commitment to defend its ally in face of the North’s “escalating nuclear and missile threats.”

North Korea had also conducted a short-range launch when the USS Ronald Reagan and its battle group arrived for joint drills with South Korea in September, which was the last time the United States sent an aircraft carrier to waters near the Korean Peninsula.

North Korea has fired more than 20 ballistic and cruise missiles across 11 launch events this year as it tries to force the United States to accept its nuclear status and negotiate a removal of sanctions from a position of strength.

North Korea’s launches this month included a flight-test of an intercontinental ballistic missile and a series of short-range weapons intended to overwhelm South Korean missile defenses as it tries to demonstrate an ability to conduct nuclear strikes on both South Korea and the U.S. mainland.

The North last week conducted what it described as a three-day exercise that simulated nuclear attacks on South Korean targets as leader Kim Jong Un condemned the U.S.-South Korean joint military drills as invasion rehearsals. The allies say the exercises are defensive in nature.

The North’s tests also included a purported nuclear-capable underwater drone that the North claimed is capable of setting off a huge “radioactive tsunami” that would destroy naval vessels and ports. Analysts were skeptical about the North Korean claims about the drone or whether the device presents a major new threat, but the tests underlined the North’s commitment to expand its nuclear threats.

Following the North’s announcement of the drone test on Friday, South Korea’s air force released details of a five-day joint aerial drill with the United States last week that included live-fire demonstrations of air-to-air and air-to-ground weapons. The air force said the exercise was aimed at verifying precision strike capabilities and reaffirming the credibility of Seoul’s “three-axis” strategy against North Korean nuclear threats — preemptively striking sources of attacks, intercepting incoming missiles and neutralizing the North’s leadership and key military facilities.

North Korea already is coming off a record year in weapons testing, launching more than 70 missiles in 2022, when it also set into law an escalatory nuclear doctrine that authorizes pre-emptive nuclear strikes in a broad range of scenarios where it may perceive its leadership as under threat.

LAHORE: Pakistan’s former prime minister Imran Khan on Wednesday alleged that the PML-N-led government was plotting to assassinate him on the pattern of Murtaza Bhutto, who was killed in police firing when his sister Benazir Bhutto was in power in 1996.

Khan, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman, made these startling allegation in a video address to his supporters.

Khan survived an assassination attempt in November last year when unidentified gunmen opened fire on the container-mounted truck carrying him during a protest march in Punjab province.

“Now another plan has been hatched. I am telling everyone, the judiciary [and] especially Punjab police,” 70-year-old Khan claimed in the video address.

He alleged that the police chiefs of Islamabad and Punjab, and their “handlers” had planned another operation outside Zaman Park residence.

“What is the plan? That there is another operation outside Zaman Park either today or tomorrow. They have made two squads who will mix among our people, and then shoot and kill four to five police officials,” Khan claimed.

Khan said this would then prompt an attack from the other side, following which PTI workers would be killed in a Model Town-like situation.

“They will create a situation similar to the assassination of Murtaza Bhutto and kill me,” he warned.

Murtaza, the brother of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, was killed in a police encounter in Karachi in 1996.

Ironically, Benazir was in power at that time. She was killed 11 years later in a terrorist attack during an election rally in Rawalpindi in 2007. The elements in the military establishment are blamed for their assassinations.

Khan urged his party workers to show restraint and not get provoked by the “operation.”

“Whatever the police do. Don’t get provoked. Understand their plan. I am ready to go to jail but do not want bloodshed,” he said.

A few days ago, he claimed that a “death trap” was being laid out during his appearance in Islamabad’s court.

“A death trap was laid out at the Federal Judicial Complex, Islamabad where I had to attend a hearing in the Toshakhana case. Some 20 unknown people — a reference to intelligence agencies men — were present in the complex to kill me,” he asserted.

Last week, clashes were reported between his defiant supporters and security personnel after Khan arrived at the Islamabad judicial complex to attend hearing in the Toshakhana case.

As he left Lahore for Islamabad, the Punjab police launched a search operation at his sprawling premises in the upscale Zaman Park area.

On Wednesday, a total of 143 cases were registered against Khan, mostly on terrorism charges.

“I don’t care about my cases but the way PTI workers are being arrested on false cases, we are now writing to all international human rights organisations against these atrocities,” he said.

Khan also claimed that the PML-N government is going to adopt a resolution in a joint session of the parliament to delay elections in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces.

The PTI chief has been in the dock for buying gifts, including an expensive Graff wristwatch, which he had received as the premier at a discounted price from the state depository called Toshakhana and selling them for profit.

Khan was ousted from power in April last year after losing a no-confidence vote, becoming the first Pakistani prime minister to be voted out by the National Assembly.

LONDON: There is a heightened security presence and barricades have been erected outside the Indian High Commission here on Wednesday due to a planned demonstration called by some British Sikh groups.

Banners for a so-called “National Protest”, organised by groups such as the Federation of Sikh Organisations (FSO) and Sikh Youth Jathebandia, have been circulating on social media since before a protest on Sunday, which ended in violent disorder at the India House.

The Indian government registered a strong protest over the lack of security measures at its diplomatic mission, which ended in Khalistan flag-waving protesters smashing windows of the mission and attempting to pull down the tricolour.

Since the weekend, several uniformed officers have been patrolling the area in Aldwych and Metropolitan Police vans have been stationed at India Place.

Wednesday’s planned demonstration claims to be in response to discriminatory actions of the Indian Police in Punjab.

The Indian High Commission in London has been working to counter disinformation circulating around developments in Punjab, related to enforcement action against the separatist group ‘Waris Punjab De’.

“Let me assure all our friends here in the UK, especially brothers and sisters with relatives in Punjab, that there is no truth to the sensationalist lies being circulated on social media,” Indian High Commissioner Vikram Doraiswami said in a video posted on Twitter.

“The situation in your ancestral homeland is not what is being reported. The elected chief minister of the state and the local police authorities have put out detailed information, including interviews on television, please watch these. Do not believe the small handful of people putting out fiction and disinformation,” he said.

In an update on the enforcement action since March 18, Doraiswami said that the Punjab Police launched an operation against elements of ‘Waris Punjab De’ against whom criminal cases have been recorded, in particular against Amritpal Singh, the chief of this organisation.

He added that the constitutional rights to legal defence for all those arrested will be protected and reiterated that all communication services, including mobile telephone networks and the internet, are up and running in the state.

British Sikh MPs, Labour’s Tanmanjeet Singh and Preet Kaur Gill, were among those to express concern for their UK constituents with relatives in Punjab.

“Monitoring developments surrounding the Punjab. So many of my constituents are concerned for their loved ones given an internet blackout. Ministers should engage with Indian authorities so UK families who can’t reach their relatives regain contact as soon as possible,” Gill tweeted on Sunday.

On being alerted to the violent protest at the High Commission, she added: “No one should resort to such attacks. This is unacceptable.”

Several diaspora groups gathered for a We Stand By High Commission of India festive demonstration outside India House in London on Tuesday as a show of solidarity following vandalism.

The Metropolitan Police said its “enquiries continue” and one male arrested on suspicion of violent disorder has since been bailed to appear in court in mid-June.

Meanwhile, in New Delhi, police have removed barricades “that created hurdles” for commuters outside the British High Commission here but the security of the diplomatic mission remains intact, officials said on Wednesday.