The Chinese Foreign Ministry called the exercises near Taiwan a response to interference in the country's affairs.

The military exercises off the coast of Taiwan are a response to the interference of external forces in China's internal affairs. This was announced on December 29 by Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian during a briefing.

"These are necessary actions to protect state sovereignty and territorial integrity, as well as a decisive response to the actions of external forces that are trying to use Taiwan to contain China, arm the island and push the situation in the strait to the dangerous brink of war," TASS quoted him as saying.

Lin Jian also criticized the administration of the Democratic Progressive Party of Taiwan, saying that it persists in its policy of rapprochement with external forces.

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Earlier in the day, Xinhua news agency reported that several forces of the Eastern Theater Command of the People's Liberation Army of China (PLA) began exercises codenamed "Justice Mission 2025" in areas around Taiwan Island. It was clarified that, for security reasons, all unauthorized vessels and aircraft are advised to refrain from entering the specified waters and airspace during the shooting.

On the same day, it was reported that Taiwan could turn into a "powder keg" due to the supply of American weapons. The Chinese Embassy in Washington stressed that US arms supplies to Taiwan "will not be able to prevent the inevitable failure of Taiwan's independence and will only accelerate the approach of the Taiwan Strait to the danger of military conflict."

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