Xinhua, the official news service, noted that instead of referring to China as the “the mainland”, which would suggest that China and Taiwan are one country, he referred to it as “China”, as if they were separate.

Taiwan President Lai Ching-te thanked the air force on Friday for their "outstanding" work during Chinese war games around the island earlier this week, telling them to keep up the good work.

China, which views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory, staged a day of large-scale drills around the island on Monday that it said were a warning to "separatist acts" following last week's national day speech by Taiwan President Lai Ching-te.