CNN
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China’s People’s Liberation Army said on Friday that military drills around Taiwan were designed to test its ability to “seize power” over the island, starting the second day of large-scale exercises to encircle the democratic neighbor.
The drills, the largest in more than a year, came just days after Taiwan swore in its new president, Lai Ching-te, who is openly disliked by Beijing for his defense of Taiwan’s sovereignty and separate identity.
Beijing has denounced Lai as a “dangerous separatist” and criticized him for calling on China in his inaugural speech on Monday to stop intimidating Taiwan, which has become more pronounced under President Xi Jinping.
The People’s Liberation Army, which outnumbers Taiwan’s much weaker military, began the drills on Thursday morning, sending warships and fighter jets to Taiwan and nearby islands in what it called “powerful punishment against the separatist acts of Taiwan independence forces.”
The People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command said on Friday it was continuing drills on both sides of the Taiwan island line to “test our ability to jointly seize power, launch joint attacks and occupy key areas.”
Although it has never ruled Taiwan, the Chinese Communist Party considers it to be part of its territory and has vowed to seize it by force if necessary.
The majority of Taiwanese do not want to live under Chinese rule, but Xi Jinping, China’s most authoritarian leader of a generation, has made clear that the “inevitable reunification” of Taiwan with mainland China cannot be postponed indefinitely.
The two-day drills are a joint operation between China’s army, navy, air force and rocket forces and will be conducted in the Taiwan Strait – the narrow stretch of water separating Taiwan from mainland China – and to the north, south and east of Taiwan, according to the People’s Liberation Army.
For the first time, the China Coast Guard also participated in the PLA’s exercises, operating in areas around Taiwan’s remote islands of Kinmen, Matsu, Wuqiu and Dongyuin, off the southeastern coast of China.
China Central Television aired footage on Friday showing People’s Liberation Army soldiers deploying mobile artillery and missile systems, but it did not show any live firing.
Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense condemned the Chinese military drills as an “unreasonable provocation” and responded by deploying its naval, air and land forces.
The ministry confirmed 49 Chinese planes between 6 a.m. Thursday and 6 a.m. Friday, 35 of which crossed the median line, an informal boundary across the Taiwan Strait that China does not recognise but has largely respected until recent years.
According to the ministry, 19 Chinese warships and seven Japan Coast Guard vessels were spotted near the Taiwan Strait.
“It is regrettable that China’s unilateral military provocations threaten Taiwan’s democracy and freedom, as well as regional peace and stability,” Taiwan’s Presidential Office said on Thursday, adding that Taiwan has the “confidence and capability to safeguard national security.”
Kyodo News/Getty Images
On May 23, 2020, a big screen in Beijing showed Chinese fighter jets taking part in a two-day Chinese military drill around Taiwan.
Lai has had a busy and politically turbulent start to the ruling Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) historic third consecutive term in power, succeeding Tsai Ing-wen after two terms in power.
The PLA training will be the first real test for the veteran politician managing tense relations with Beijing, which has rejected offers to resume talks and cross-strait tourism and student exchanges.
At home, the administration faces turmoil in parliament, where opposition parties who support closer ties with China hold a majority, and are seeking to increase scrutiny of the government.
Thousands of people, mostly young people, took to the streets to protest against opposition attempts to fast-track a bill that would give more powers to Parliament.
But despite Beijing’s massive military display, life continues as usual in Taiwan, and although Chinese military threats have become more regular and visible in recent years, the island’s 23 million residents have become accustomed to them.
“We are not afraid of the Chinese Communist Party and we are confident,” an 88-year-old retiree who gave his surname Liu told CNN.
“Even if the Chinese Communist Party attacks Taiwan, it will not be easy to seize Taiwan. The Taiwanese people are not afraid of war.”
The 42-year-old mother, who gave her surname as Cai, said she was not even aware that the PLA training was taking place.
“I’m not worried because I trust that the leaders will prioritise the welfare of their people. I think peace will be maintained,” she said.
China Coast Guard/Weibo
China Coast Guard conducts drills near Taiwan.
China’s military drills are often intended to appeal to a domestic audience as well as signal its intentions to the international community, and state media have stepped up coverage of the exercises.
Zhang Zhi, a Chinese military expert, told state broadcaster CCTV that the PLA’s drills focused on “practicing new ways of containing Taiwan”.
“Taiwan is an isolated island in the sea with weak self-sufficiency. Taiwan’s economy is export-oriented and most of its energy consumption is dependent on imports. Once surrounded and blockaded, it could easily lead to economic collapse and become an island of death,” he said.
Chang said the drills in southern Taiwan were crucial to the blockade, targeting the port of Kaohsiung, Taiwan’s largest port and a key base for the Taiwanese navy, while those in eastern Taiwan were aimed at training to cut off Taiwan’s energy imports, escape routes for “Taiwan independence” forces and support lines from the United States and its allies, he added.
The United States maintains close but informal ties with Taiwan and is obligated by law to supply it with weapons for self-defense.
Zhang also noted that the drills marked a “new breakthrough” by entering the geographically significant waters around Wuqiu and Dongyin.
“Taiwan’s military regards these as forward bases for its Taiwan Strait defense operations. This exercise will further squeeze the operating space of Taiwan’s military,” he said.
Analysts said the China Coast Guard’s activities near and around the remote islands were a key new aspect of the exercise, which follows encirclement drills in August 2022 and April 2023.
“It would be provocative to send the Coast Guard and other forces into waters near offshore islands,” said Carl Schuster, a former director of operations at U.S. Pacific Command’s Joint Intelligence Center.
He said he expected such Chinese activities to continue and that they would “become the norm,” meaning Beijing would be able to turn the exercises into actual military operations at any time.
Craig Singleton, a senior China fellow at the nonpartisan Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said China’s pattern of drills around Taiwan does not indicate an imminent threat of invasion.
“These exercises help blur the line between peace and war and future training could be used as a pretext for actual invasions,” Singleton said.
But Singleton and others say the exercise sends more of a political than military message.
“Joint Sword 2024A is aimed at reinvigorating military pressure measures and exerting some influence over Taiwan’s new regime and its claims,” Lionel Fatton, an assistant professor of international relations at Webster University in Geneva, said of this week’s exercise, referring to China by name.
He said Beijing was seeking to use the pressure from the drills to intensify internal divisions in Taiwan and potentially “weake” the island from within.
“Continued and visible military pressure on the island will increase the polarization of the political institutions, if not the social fabric itself,” Fatton said.
