China Start Military Drills Around Taiwan

China deployed planes and ships to encircle Taiwan on Monday in drills that Beijing said were aimed at sending a “stern warning” to “separatist” forces on the self-ruled island.

Beijing has not ruled out the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control, and Monday’s drills mark its fourth round of large-scale war games in the past two years.

China’s drills come just days after United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned Beijing against taking action in response to a speech by Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te during the island’s National Day celebrations.

Lai, who took office in May, has been more outspoken than his predecessor Tsai Ing-wen in defending Taiwan’s sovereignty, angering Beijing, which labels him a “separatist”.

Taiwan condemned the latest exercises as “irrational and provocative”, stating that it had dispatched “appropriate forces” in response.
AFP journalists near Hsinchu Air Force Base, in northern Taiwan, witnessed six fighter jets take off on Monday.

Beijing said its exercises served as a “stern warning to the separatist acts of ‘Taiwan Independence’ forces”.

The drills, dubbed Joint Sword-2024B, “test the joint operations capabilities of the theatre command’s troops”, said Captain Li Xi, spokesman for the Chinese military’s Eastern Theatre Command.
They are taking place in “areas to the north, south, and east of Taiwan Island”, he stated.

The drills are “focusing on subjects of sea-air combat-readiness patrol, blockade on key ports and areas”, according to Li.

They also practised an “assault on maritime and ground targets” and the
“joint seizure of comprehensive superiority”.

China Coast Guard ‘Inspections’ –

China’s coast guard was also dispatched to conduct “inspections” around the island.

A diagram released by the Coast Guard showed four fleets encircling Taiwan and moving in an anticlockwise direction around the island.

The coast guard of the eastern province of Fujian — the closest area on the mainland to the self-ruled island — also stated that it was conducting “comprehensive law enforcement patrols” in waters near the Taiwan-controlled Matsu Islands.

Taiwan said four “formations” of Chinese coast guard ships were patrolling around the island, but they had not entered its prohibited or restricted waters.

China has ramped up military activity around Taiwan in recent years, sending in warplanes and other military aircraft, while its ships maintain a near-constant presence around the island’s waters.

“In the face of enemy threats, all officers and soldiers of the country are in full readiness,” Taiwan’s defence ministry said on Monday.

“We are determined and confident in ensuring national defence security.”
In his speech on Thursday, Lai vowed to “resist annexation” of the island and insisted that Beijing and Taipei were “not subordinate to each other”.

China warned after the speech that Lai’s “provocations” would result in “disaster” for the people of Taiwan.

Beijing said on Monday that the drills were “a legitimate and necessary operation for safeguarding state sovereignty and national unity”.

Beijing’s state broadcaster CCTV released a video warning: “the greater the provocation, the tighter the reins”.

Taiwan’s defence ministry reported on Monday that 25 Chinese aircraft and seven naval vessels were detected around the island in the 26 hours leading up to 8:00 am (0000 GMT).
‘Feel a Bit Numb’ –

Lieutenant Colonel Fu Zhengnan, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Military Sciences, said in a video shared by state media that the drills could “switch from training to combat at any time”.

“If Taiwan separatists provoke even once, the PLA’s operations around the island will take action,” Fu said, referring to China’s People’s Liberation Army.

During the morning rush hour in Taipei, residents appeared largely unperturbed by the latest drills.

“I won’t panic too much because they quite often have drills,” said 34-year-old engineer Benjamin Hsiao to AFP.

“It’s not the first time in recent years anyway, so I feel a bit numb.”

The current dispute between China and Taiwan dates back to a civil war in which the nationalist forces of Chiang Kai-shek were defeated by Mao Zedong’s communist fighters and fled to Taiwan in 1949.

Lai’s Democratic Progressive Party has long defended the sovereignty and democracy of Taiwan, which has its own government, military, and currency.

Beijing has sought to erase Taipei from the international stage, blocking it from global forums and poaching its diplomatic allies.

AFP