China has began two days of what it calls joint military drills “surrounding the island of Taiwan” on Thursday, state-run media reported, 2 days after Taiwan’s new president – Lai Ching-te was sworn into office.
“The drills are being conducted in the Taiwan Strait, the north, south and east of Taiwan Island, as well as areas around the islands of Kinmen, Matsu, Wuqiu, and Dongyin,” the official Xinhua News Agency said, citing Chinese People’s Liberation Army ‘s Eastern Theater Command.
A map released by Chinese state-run media showed five locations around Taiwan where the exercises were being held, as well as four spots around the Taiwanese-controlled islands off the Chinese mainland’s coast.
Li Xi, a spokesperson for the command, said military services including the army, navy, air force and rocket force were taking part in the joint drills, code-named Joint Sword-2024A, which began at 7:45 a.m. Thursday.
“The drills focus on joint sea-air combat-readiness patrol, joint seizure of comprehensive battlefield control, and joint precision strikes on key targets,” Xinhua quoted Li as saying, adding that the exercises involved “the patrol of vessels and planes closing in on areas around the island of Taiwan and integrated operations inside and outside the island chain to test the joint real combat capabilities” of the Eastern Command’s forces.
Li said the drills would “serve as a strong punishment for the separatist acts of ‘Taiwan independence’ forces and a stern warning against the interference and provocation by external forces” — words seen as a thinly veiled warning for new Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te and the democratic island’s top backers, namely the United States and Japan.
China views Taiwan as a renegade province that must be united with the mainland, by force if necessary, and has called the issue non-negotiable. Lai’s January election angered Beijing, which regards the new Taiwanese leader as a “dangerous separatist.”
Although the number of warplanes and warships taking part in this week’s drills was not given, China’s military has not conducted exercises in such a large number of places at once since April last year, though it did carry out drills focused on the “omnidirectional encirclement” of Taiwan last August, in response to a trip by then-Vice President Lai to the U.S.
Later Thursday, Taiwan’s Defense Ministry strongly condemned what it said were “irrational provocations and actions that undermine regional peace and stability,” adding that it had dispatched sea, air and ground forces in response.
Lai used his inauguration speech on Monday to deliver an unambiguous message to Beijing and its aspirations for unifying the democratic island with the mainland: Taiwan will not be subordinate to China.
The new leader pledged to protect stability and maintain the status quo in the island’s fraught relationship with China, and called on Beijing “to cease their political and military intimidation” amid rising fears of conflict.
The island’s Defense Ministry said the “pretext” of punishing Taipei for alleged separatist acts by conducting military exercises “does not contribute to peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and highlights (China’s) hegemonic nature.”
In Tokyo on Thursday, the government’s top spokesman stressed the need for speaking frankly with Beijing on the Taiwan issue.
“It is important for Japan to continue to communicate directly and firmly with the Chinese side on the necessity for peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, and to work closely with the United States and other partners to clearly convey this position,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi told a news conference.
