US Joins Forces with Allies for Massive Indo-Pacific Military Drill, 5,000 Soldiers Deployed Amid China-Taiwan Tensions

Over 5,000 soldiers from the United States and its allies participated in joint combat exercises in Indonesia as China continues its aggression, including flying hundreds of fighter jets around Taiwan.

The US military drill was the biggest of its type since the countries began working together in 2009, according to Fox News.

The Indo-Pacific Military Drill take place at a time when tensions with China over Taiwan are at an all-time high. Since Newt Gingrich visited the island in 1997, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is the first person in her position to do so.

Chinese authorities warned that the US would suffer consequences if Pelosi traveled there before the trip, which had been long believed before it was verified.

The US sent the USS Ronald Reagan and a strike group to the South China Sea in the days before Pelosi's trip, which was in the middle of a multi-nation tour of Asia, even though a Navy official said it was a planned visit.

China has since launched missiles and breached Taiwanese air and seaspace.

Joanne Ou, a spokesperson for Taiwan's foreign ministry, claimed that China was using Pelosi's visit as justification for its aggression and that this was only a pretext to exert pressure on Taiwan into "peaceful reunification" with Beijing.

Ou said that China initiated "military provocations on these grounds."

"This is absurd and a barbaric act, which also undermines regional stability and interferes with shipping and commercial activities in the Indo-Pacific region," the Taiwanese official said.

Taiwan Stays Vigilant for Possible China Invasion

Taipei has conducted its own military exercises to train for defense against a Chinese invasion. On Wednesday, air force personnel loaded an F-16V fighter with a US-made anti-ship missile at an airbase in eastern Hualien province as part of a "combat readiness" drill, as reported by Al Jazeera.

Reporters watched as ground technicians displayed how they quickly upload weaponry, such as Harpoon anti-ship missiles from Boeing Co., onto F-16s.

According to Taiwan's air force, six F-16Vs, including two with missiles, later took off for night reconnaissance and training missions.

The air force stated: "In the face of the threat from Chinese communist forces' recent military exercises, we have stayed vigilant while establishing the concept of 'battlefields everywhere and training anytime' ... to ensure national security,"

Taiwan condemned China's recent behavior, but Sun Li-fang, a spokesman for the defense ministry, noted that the crisis offered an excellent opportunity for Taiwan's troops to improve their capabilities.

US-Taiwan Begin Fresh Trade Talks

In other updates, the United States and Taiwan have agreed to begin trade negotiations as part of a new initiative to negotiate accords with "economically important outcomes," with a Taiwan official stating that China's "economic coercion" will also be included in the discussions.

In June, just days after the Biden administration removed the Chinese-claimed island from its Asia-focused economic strategy intended to challenge China's expanding influence, Washington and Taipei presented the U.S.-Taiwan Initiative on 21st-Century Trade.

Reuters reported that the first round of negotiations was anticipated to begin early this autumn, according to the US Department of Trade Representative, who also stated that the two parties had "reached consensus on the negotiating mandate."

According to Deputy United States Trade Representative Sarah Bianchi, authorities intend "to pursue an ambitious schedule for achieving high-standard commitments and meaningful outcomes covering the eleven trade areas in the negotiating mandate that will help build a fairer, more prosperous, and resilient 21st-century economy,"

China underlined that it was against the new Taiwan-US trade initiative.