TAIPEI (Reuters) - 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.

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.

China’s show of force around Taiwan in a day of massive military exercises has fuelled alarm in Taipei, which wants other democracies to push back harder against Beijing. The fact that the People’s Liberation Army had 153 aircraft and 36 naval and coastguard ships around Taiwan on Monday,

Taiwan has accused China of test-firing two missiles during military drills conducted in the waters surrounding the self-governing island on Monday.