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Chinese jets fly near Taiwan as Beijing opposes island's trade deal bid
Last week Beijing submitted its own application to become a member of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).
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This handout photograph taken and released on May 11, 2018 by Taiwan's Defence Ministry shows a Republic of China (Taiwan) Air Force F-16 fighter aircraft (left) flying alongside a Chinese People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) H-6K bomber that reportedly flew over the Bashi Channel, south of Taiwan, and over the Miyako Strait, near Japan's Okinawa Island, in a drill. China sent fighter jets and other military aircraft near Taiwan on May 11 in the latest of a series of drills which Beijing has said are aimed at the island's (AFP/Handout)
C
hina voiced opposition on Thursday to Taiwan joining a major trans-Pacific trade deal as it flew 24 planes including two nuclear-capable bombers into the self-ruled island's air defence zone, the biggest incursion in weeks, Taiwanese officials said.
Last week Beijing submitted its own application to become a member of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).
Taiwan has lobbied for years to join and announced on Thursday that it had officially applied to be part of the CCTPP, which was signed by 11 Asia-Pacific countries in 2018 and is the region's biggest free-trade pact, accounting for around 13.5 percent of the global economy.
"Taiwan can't be left out in the world and has to integrate into the regional economy," cabinet spokesman Lo Ping-cheng told reporters.
But China, which claims self-ruled democratic Taiwan as its own territory, insisted Taipei should not be allowed in.
On the same day, Taiwanese officials said 24 Chinese planes -- including 18 fighter jets and two nuclear-capable bombers -- crossed into the island's air defence identification zone.
"We firmly oppose any country having official exchanges with Taiwan and firmly oppose the Taiwan region's accession to any official treaties or organisations," Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told reporters.
