In response to President Tsai Ing-meeting wen’s with the U.S. House speaker, 42 Chinese fighter jets breached the Taiwan Strait median line on Saturday.

The three-day drills, launched the day after Tsai returned from the U.S., were widely expected after China blasted her Wednesday meeting with Speaker Kevin McCarthy in Los Angeles.

China has never stopped using force to annex democratic Taiwan. Taiwan’s government opposes China’s claims.

Beijing’s declaration came hours after key European politicians visited China.

“As planned,” the People’s Liberation Army began combat readiness patrols and “Joint Sword” drills surrounding Taiwan in the Taiwan Strait and to the north, south, and east of Taiwan.

“This is a serious warning to the Taiwan independence separatist forces and external forces’ collaboration and provocation,” the Chinese army’s Eastern Theater Command said.

On Saturday morning, Taiwan’s Defence Ministry said that 42 Chinese fighters—J-10s, J-11s, and J-16s—and eight Chinese ships breached the median line as an unofficial boundary.

“China is leveraging Tsai’s U.S. visit to undertake military exercises, which has seriously harmed regional peace, stability, and security,” the ministry said.

“The military will respond calmly, logically, and seriously and stand watch and monitor in line with ‘neither escalation nor disputes’ to maintain national sovereignty and security.”

If McCarthy, the second-in-line to replace the U.S. president after the vice president, met with China, China warned of unspecified reprisal. As then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taipei in August, Beijing held war drills surrounding Taiwan, including live-fire missile launches.

A senior Taiwan official involved with regional security strategy told Reuters the aircraft had just momentarily crossed the middle line and the ships had already pulled back, unlike in August when boats from both navies engaged in stand-offs.

The insider stated on condition of anonymity that the situation was “as predicted” and controllable, and Taiwan’s administration has rehearsed numerous responses.

China announced drills late Friday, and Reuters reporters in a beachside region near Fuzhou, opposite the Taiwan-controlled Matsu islands, witnessed a Chinese vessel firing rounds towards a training area on China’s coast.

During a Saturday lunch with a U.S. legislator delegation led by House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Michael McCaul, Tsai said she looked forward to expanding security cooperation with the U.S.

She told cameras, “I would want to stress that the people of Taiwan cherish democracy and seek peace,” without addressing the drills.

As Beijing regards Tsai as a separatist, she has proposed negotiations but has been rejected. She said only the Taiwanese could decide their destiny.

The People’s Daily, China’s Communist Party’s official newspaper, said on Saturday that the government has “a strong ability to block any sort of Taiwan independence secession.”

“All Chinese government actions pertain to China’s lawful and legal right to preserve national sovereignty and territorial integrity,” it stated.

China has not confirmed missile drills as of August. However, When it announced the last drills, China issued a map of its marine firing zones near Taiwan.

The security source said China usually conducts military drills in April.

Taiwanese authorities expected a less serious reaction to the McCarthy meeting since it occurred in the U.S., but they did not rule out Beijing holding further drills.

China’s declaration came hours after French President Emmanuel Macron departed Beijing after meeting President Xi Jinping and other dignitaries. Macron advised Beijing to reason with Moscow on the Ukrainian war.

Ursula von der Leyen, EU leader, met Xi in China this week and stressed Taiwan Strait stability.

China’s official account of the meeting says Xi called Taiwan’s compromise “wishful thinking.”

Xi meeting with Macron and von der Leyen was included on China’s military ministry’s homepage along with the maneuvers near Taiwan announcement.

After the drills, the Taiwan security source claimed China’s efforts to seduce Western leaders were futile.

“Once the strait exercises were announced, all those efforts evaporated overnight and became a waste.”