Hong Kong/Taipei | Mon October 14, 2024
Taiwan has condemned the latest round of Chinese military drills around the self-governing island as an “unreasonable provocation” after Beijing deployed warships and fighter jets in what it described as a “stern warning” to “separatist acts of Taiwan independence forces.”The exercises, which involve joint operations of the army, navy, air force, and rocket force, are being carried out in the Taiwan Strait, a thin body of water that separates the island from mainland China, as well as around Taiwan, the Chinese military’s Eastern Theater Command said on Monday.
In recent years, China has increased the frequency of its military drills surrounding Taiwan, a democracy with 23 million citizens, and these drills have often coincided with events that have infuriated Beijing.
A week of military exercises was initiated by China in August 2022, subsequent to a visit to the island by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Following Taiwan President Lai Ching-te’s inauguration, which Beijing has blasted as a “dangerous separatist,” similar drills were conducted in May. Code-named Joint Sword-2024B, the most recent exercises seem to be a continuation of the drills conducted five months prior.
The Eastern Theater Command posted a propaganda video dubbed “prepared for battle” on its social media pages prior to the exercises.
The one-minute film features mobile missile launchers being put into position along with fighter jets, destroyers, and amphibious assault ships both at sea and in the air. The leadership is “prepared for battle at all times and can fight anytime,” according to the accompanying text.
Taiwan’s Defense Ministry issued a statement in which it declared that it had sent its own forces and vehemently denounced the drills as a “unreasonable provocation” by China.
China was urged to “cease military provocations that undermine regional peace and stability, and stop threatening Taiwan’s democracy and freedom,” according to a statement from Taiwan’s presidential office.
It further stated that in order to debate how to respond to the drills, President Lai had called national security meetings.
“I want to reassure my fellow citizens that the government will persist in defending the democratic and free constitutional system, preserving democratic Taiwan, and preserving national security in the face of external threats,” Lai wrote in a Facebook post.
The Chinese aircraft carrier Liaoning reportedly entered waters close to the vital Bashi Channel, which divides Taiwan from the Philippines, on Sunday, according to the country’s defense ministry. Later, CCTV reported that the Eastern Theater Command verified that the carrier squadron was practicing “vessel and jet coordination, joint air control, and maritime and land strikes” to the east of Taiwan.
“Taiwan independence and peace in the Taiwan Strait are incompatible, and the provocation of Taiwan independence forces will inevitably be countered,” a spokesman for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated on Monday.
Already a ‘sovereign country’
Following President Lai’s remarks on Thursday, Taiwan’s National Day, that Beijing “does not have the right to represent Taiwan” and that the island “is not subordinate” to China, the drills were held.
The remark came after Lai stated that Taiwan is already a “sovereign and independent country” and that it was “absolutely impossible” for Communist China to become Taiwan’s motherland.
Beijing has long been angry with Lai because she has supported Taiwan’s sovereignty and rejected claims to the island made by the Chinese Communist Party.
China’s ruling Communist Party has promised to “reunify” with the self-governing democracy, even if it means using force, despite never having had authority over Taiwan. However, a large portion of the island’s population considers itself to be uniquely Taiwanese and does not wish to join the People’s Republic of China (PRC).
China’s authorities have pledged time and again to annex Taiwan. However, the most forceful Chinese leader in decades, Xi Jinping, has escalated rhetoric and aggression towards the democratic island, escalating tensions across the strait and stoking fears of a military conflict.
The exercises began Monday, according to the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), “with vessels and aircraft approaching Taiwan Island in close proximity from different directions.”
According to a statement from the PLA’s Eastern Command, the drills were centered on “sea-air combat-readiness patrol, blockade on key ports and areas, assault on maritime and ground targets, as well as joint seizure of comprehensive superiority.”
China has not yet launched any missiles, and the PLA did not specify if live fire training were part of the drills. In earlier drills in 2022, missile launches were conducted.
The ‘gray zone’
Drills are being conducted in nine places encircling Taiwan and its outlying islands that are closer to mainland China, according to a chart issued by the command.
China’s Coast Guard participated in the maneuvers as well; it operates in the vicinity of Taiwan and the nearby islands of Matsu and Dongyin, which are situated near China’s southeast coast.
Taiwan’s Defense Ministry discovered 25 Chinese aircraft between 5 and 8 a.m. local time on Monday. Of them, 16 crossed the Median Line, an unofficial border in the Taiwan Strait that Beijing does not recognize but had up until recently mostly abided by.
The ministry reported that more Coast Guard vessels and seven Chinese warships were spotted close to the Taiwan Strait.
Taiwan’s Coast Guard reported on Monday that it had apprehended and held a Chinese national who was traveling by raft close to the Kinmen Islands. It said it could not completely rule out the potential that the event was a part of China’s “gray zone” efforts against Taiwan because it happened during the military drills, and it has increased its level of readiness.
Gray zone tactics are those that fall slightly short of what are deemed to be acts of war.
The anticipated cost of China’s military drills in the Western Pacific is in the billions of dollars. China spent almost $15 billion in 2023 on the deployment of its warships, the majority of which were tracked in the South China Sea, and on Air Force flights, the majority of which were documented in the Taiwan Strait — according to Taiwanese military documents seen by CNN in August, first reported by Reuters.
In May, 91 warship sailings totaling 2,200 operating hours at an estimated cost of $12.7 million were documented during Chinese drills around Taiwan. China paid Taiwan $47.8 million for the 111 flights the Chinese aircraft made.
The new military drills have the United States expressing “serious concern” and being described as a “response with military provocations to a routine annual speech” that “is unwarranted and risks escalation.”
Spokesman for the State Department Matthew Miller said in a statement, “We call on the PRC to act with restraint and to avoid any further actions that may undermine peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and in the broader region.”
