China summons European diplomats over statement on Taiwan

The Foreign Ministry said Vice-Minister Deng Li made “solemn representations” over what he called “wanton interference in China’s internal affairs.”

China says it summoned European diplomats in the country to protest statements issued by the Group of Seven nations and the European Union (EU) criticising threatening Chinese military exercises surrounding Taiwan.

The Foreign Ministry on Friday said Vice-Minister Deng Li made “solemn representations” over what he called “wanton interference in China’s internal affairs.”

China has dispatched navy ships and warplanes and launched missiles into the Taiwan Strait in response to a visit this week by U.S. Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan, which China regards as its own territory to be annexed by force if necessary.

On the Chinese coast across from Taiwan, tourists gathered on Friday to try to catch a glimpse of any military aircraft heading toward the exercise area. Fighter jets could be heard flying overhead and tourists taking photos chanted, “Let’s take Taiwan back," looking out into the blue waters of the Taiwan Strait from Pingtan island, a popular scenic spot.

On Friday morning, China sent military ships and war planes across the mid-line of the Taiwan Strait, the Taiwanese Defence Ministry said, crossing what had been an unofficial buffer zone between China and Taiwan for decades.

Five of the missiles fired by China landed in Japan’s Exclusive Economic Zone off Hateruma, an island far south of Japan’s main islands, Japanese Defence Minister Nobuo Kishi said. He said Japan protested the missile landings to China as “serious threats to Japan’s national security and the safety of the Japanese people.”

Japan's Defence Ministry later said they believe the other four missiles, fired from China’s southeastern coast of Fujian, flew over Taiwan.