Taiwan’s foreign ministry extended “sincere appreciation” to the US for taking “concrete efforts” to protect security and peace in the Taiwan Strait and the region on Saturday.

Kurt Campbell, the United States’ Indo-Pacific coordinator, said on Friday that China “overreacted” to US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan, which triggered days of war drills by Beijing near the island, which China considers its own territory.

In a statement issued on Saturday, Taiwan’s foreign ministry stated that China’s “unprovoked military and economic intimidation” had “further enhanced the solidarity and resilience of the worldwide democratic camp.”

Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen said on Thursday that China’s threat of force remains unchanged, despite Beijing’s largest-ever military maneuvers near the island, which began after Pelosi’s visit last week.

Tsai stated at a rally in southern Taiwan on Saturday for local elections due for late November that they were not just confronting opposing candidates, but also “pressure from China.”

China’s military operations near Taiwan is continuing, but on a far lower scale than last week.

According to Taiwan’s Defense Ministry, 13 Chinese air force jets crossed the Taiwan Strait’s median line on Saturday, which serves as an unofficial barrier between the two sides in normal times.

Taiwan’s government claims that because the People’s Republic of China has never controlled the island, it has no authority to claim it or decide its destiny, which can only be decided by the people of Taiwan.

After losing a civil war to Mao Zedong’s Communist Party, which created the People’s Republic of China in Beijing, the defeated Republic of China government retreated to Taiwan in 1949.

China has never renounced the use of force to bring democratically governed Taiwan under its control.