China military simulates strikes on Taiwan, US “watching closely”

Anil Panchal FXStreet

US-China tension escalates after Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen returned from a brief visit to the United States.

“China's military simulated precision strikes against Taiwan in a second day of drills around the island on Sunday, with the island's defense ministry reporting multiple air force sorties and that it was monitoring China's missile forces,” reported Reuters.

Key details

A source familiar with the security situation in the region told Reuters that China had been conducting simulated air and sea attacks on ‘foreign military targets’ in the waters off Taiwan's southwestern coast.

Taiwan's defense ministry said that as of 0800 GMT on Sunday, they had spotted 70 Chinese aircraft, including Su-30 fighters and H-6 bombers, as well as 11 ships, around Taiwan.

The de facto US embassy in Taiwan said on Sunday the United States was monitoring China's drills around Taiwan closely and is ‘comfortable and confident’ it has sufficient resources and capabilities regionally to ensure peace and stability.

Market implications

The news should weigh on risk appetite and the AUD/USD prices amid a likely dull day due to the Easter Monday holiday in multiple markets. That said, the Aussie pair remains pressured around a two-week low, at 0.6665 by the press time of early Monday morning in Asia.

Author

Anil Panchal

FXStreet

Anil Panchal has nearly 15 years of experience in tracking financial markets. With a keen interest in macroeconomics, Anil aptly tracks global news/updates and stays well-informed about the global financial moves and their implications.

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