China's military announced that it completed a number of undefined tasks around Taiwan on Aug. 10, signaling that it would be scaling down ongoing joint exercises in the region.
However, the Eastern Theater Command, which oversees China's military in the region nearest Taiwan, also said it would be normalizing its harassing sorties of fighter jets into Taiwan's air defense identification zone and across the median line of the Taiwan Strait.
"The Command will closely follow the development of the situation across the Taiwan Strait, continue to carry out military training for war preparedness, and organize normalized combat-readiness security patrol in the Taiwan Strait to defend China's sovereignty and territorial integrity," said Shi Yi, the Command's spokesperson.
A total of 17 Chinese fighter jets incurred across the median line of the Taiwan Strait just an hour after the statement was released, according to Taiwan's Defense Ministry.
The exercises took place in the waters and airspace surrounding Taiwan, forming a sort of blockade which disrupted international flights and shipping routes in a region crucial to global supply chains.
"The United States is prepared for what China chooses to do," said White House National Security Council communications coordinator John Kirby at an Aug. 4 press conference. "We will not seek, nor do we want, a crisis."
"At the same time, we will not be deterred from operating in the seas and the skies of the western Pacific, consistent with international law as we have for decades supporting Taiwan and defending a free and open Pacific."