Hong Kong/Taipei
CNN
—
Taiwan calls recent Chinese military exercises around the self-governing island an “unwarranted provocation” after Beijing deployed warships and fighter jets as a “stern warning” against “separatist actions by the Taiwanese Independence Army.” accused of being.
China’s military’s Eastern Theater Command said on Monday that exercises involving joint operations between the army, navy, air force and rocket forces were also being conducted in the Taiwan Strait, the narrow body of water separating Taiwan from mainland China. Surround Taiwan.
Chinese military exercises around Taiwan, a democracy of 23 million people, have become more frequent in recent years and tend to coincide with events that anger Beijing.
Analysts said Monday’s drills were part of an overall strategy to maintain pressure on Taiwan and normalize regular military exercises.
In August 2022, China began a week of military exercises following a visit to the island by then-Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi.
A similar exercise was held in May after Taiwan’s president, Lai Ching-de, took office, but Beijing has denounced him as a “dangerous separatist.” The latest exercise is codenamed “Joint Sword-2024B,” suggesting it is a sequel to an exercise of the same name five months ago.
Ahead of the training, the Eastern Theater Command released a propaganda video titled “Preparing for Battle” on its social media accounts.
The approximately one-minute video shows fighter jets, warships and amphibious assault ships moving in the air and sea, and mobile missile launchers moving into position. The attached document said the command was “always ready and ready for combat.”
In a statement, Taiwan’s Ministry of Defense strongly condemned the drills as an “unwarranted provocation” by China and said it had sent its own military.
In a statement, Taiwan’s presidential office called on China to “cease military provocations that undermine regional peace and stability, and stop threatening Taiwan’s democracy and freedom.”
It added that President Lai had convened a National Security Council meeting to discuss responses to the exercise.
“I would like to reassure my fellow compatriots that even in the face of external threats, the government will continue to uphold our democratic and free constitutional system, protect democratic Taiwan, and safeguard national security,” Lai said in a Facebook post. I want to reassure them.”
Taiwan’s Ministry of Defense announced on Sunday that the Chinese aircraft carrier Liaoning had entered waters near the Bashi Strait, a strategic point in southern Taiwan that separates the island from the Philippines. The Eastern Theater Command later confirmed that its carrier squadron was conducting training in “ship-jet coordination, joint air traffic control, and sea and land attack” east of Taiwan, according to CCTV.
“Taiwan independence and peace in the Taiwan Strait are incompatible, and any provocation by the Taiwanese Independence Army will definitely be countered,” a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said on Monday.
The drills came after President Lai gave a speech on Thursday’s National Day in which he said Taiwan was “not subordinate” to China and that Beijing “has no right to represent Taiwan.”
The speech followed earlier comments by Lai in which he said it was “absolutely impossible” for Communist China to become Taiwan’s homeland and that Taiwan was already a “sovereign and independent country.” .
Lai has long faced the wrath of Beijing for defending Taiwan’s sovereignty and rejecting the Chinese Communist Party’s claims to the island.
Although it has never ruled Taiwan, China’s ruling Communist Party has vowed to “reunify” Taiwan with the autonomous democracy, by force if necessary. However, many people on the island consider themselves distinctly Taiwanese and do not want to be part of the People’s Republic of China (PRC).
Successive Chinese leaders have vowed to one day rule Taiwan. But Xi Jinping, China’s most assertive leader in decades, has stepped up his rhetoric and aggression against the democratic island, increasing tensions across the strait and raising fears of a military conflict.
The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) said Monday’s exercises began “with ships and aircraft approaching the island of Taiwan from various directions.”
According to a statement from the People’s Liberation Army Eastern Command, the training focused on “sea-air combat readiness patrols, blockading major ports and areas, attacking maritime and ground targets, and jointly seizing total superiority.”
Late Monday, the People’s Liberation Army announced that the military exercise had been “successfully completed.” He did not say whether the training included live fire, but no missiles were fired. The previous exercise in 2022 included a missile launch and was seen as more provocative as a result.
“Of course, Beijing is gradually trying to get people used to and more desensitized to this kind of show of force,” Wenti Song, an Atlantic Council Global China Hub fellow based in Taipei, told CNN told.
“Beijing is looking for ways to gradually expand the level and geographic scope of its military deployment in these military exercises,” Song explained. He added that each exercise was sufficient to set a new precedent, but was carefully calibrated to avoid a “coordinated international backlash.”
A map released by the command shows drills being conducted in nine areas around Taiwan and remote islands near mainland China.
The China Coast Guard, which operates in areas around Taiwan and the remote islands of Matsu and Dongyin, located just off China’s southeast coast, also participated in the exercise.
Taiwan’s Ministry of Defense detected 125 Chinese fighter jets, helicopters, and drones around Taiwan between 5 a.m. and 4 p.m. local time on Monday, 90 of which were located near the median line (which the Chinese government has acknowledged). Until recently, it was largely respected as an unofficial demarcation point in the Taiwan Strait.
Seven Chinese warships and additional coast guard vessels were spotted near the Taiwan Strait, the ministry said.
Taiwan’s Coast Guard announced on Monday that it had captured and detained a Chinese national on a raft near the Kinmen Islands. Since the incident coincided with a military exercise, it cannot be ruled out that it may be part of China’s “gray zone” tactics against Taiwan, and the government is increasing its vigilance.
Gray zone tactics refer to actions just below what might be considered an act of war.
Chen Ming-chi, an associate professor at the Center for Modern China at National Tsinghua University, told CNN that the drill was “very dangerous” and that it was “coming closer and closer” and “will only leave a very short response.” ” he said. time. ”
“We don’t want to see complacency set in. This is not good for a normal country,” Chen said.
China’s military exercises in the Western Pacific are estimated to be multi-billion dollar operations. In 2023, China spent more than $15 billion deploying warships, most of which were tracked in the South China Sea, and air force flights were mostly recorded in the Taiwan Strait, according to Taiwanese military documents seen by CNN. . It was first reported by Reuters in August.
China’s exercises around Taiwan in May involved 91 warships sailing over 2,200 hours of operation, with an estimated cost of $12.7 million. Taiwan recorded 111 flights by Chinese-made jets, costing China about $47.8 million.
The United States said it was “gravely concerned” by recent military exercises, calling them a “military provocation response to an annual speech” and “unwarranted and risking escalation.”
“We urge China to act with restraint and avoid further actions that could undermine peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and the broader region,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement. .
This story has been updated with additional information.
