Taiwan details surge in Chinese activity on last day of war games

TAIPEI (Reuters) -Taiwan's defence ministry on Thursday detailed a surge in Chinese military activity as Beijing wrapped up a second day of war games overnight Wednesday, saying it had detected 59 warplanes and 23 navy ships operating around the island.

China, which views democratically ruled Taiwan as its own territory despite the objections of the government there, announced on Wednesday that its Strait Thunder-2025A drills, that included some live-fire drills far to the north of the island, had finished.

China said the exercises were a response to it views as provocations from Taiwan President Lai Ching-te, who won election last year and who Beijing reviles as a "separatist".

Taiwan's defence ministry, in its regular morning update of Chinese military activities over the previous 24 hours, reported a rise in navy ships compared with its report the prior day, though a drop in the number of warplanes.

Eighteen of the warplanes crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait, which used to serve as an unofficial boundary and which China says it does not recognise, the ministry said in its statement.

Taiwan's government denounced the drills and called China a "troublemaker".

The exercises also drew concern from the United States, Japan, European Union and Britain.

China last year staged two rounds of major war games around Taiwan.

(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Tom Hogue and Gerry Doyle)