China began a second day of military drills targeting Taiwan as punishment for “separatist acts” following the inauguration of its new president on Monday.
The drills, involving units from China’s air force, rocket force, navy, army and coast guard, were announced suddenly on Thursday morning with a map showing five rough target areas in the waters surrounding Taiwan’s main island, with others targeting Taiwan’s offshore islands closer to the Chinese mainland.
China’s Defense Ministry said Friday’s drills were designed to test the military’s ability to “seize power” and occupy key areas, in line with China’s ultimate goal of annexing Taiwan. Taiwan’s government and people reject the possibility of Chinese rule, but Chinese leader Xi Jinping has not renounced the use of force to seize the island. Western intelligence agencies claim he has ordered the People’s Liberation Army to be capable of invading by 2027.
The People’s Liberation Army said Thursday afternoon that fighter jets carrying live ammunition had conducted successful “mock attacks” on military targets in Taiwan, but so far the exercise is smaller in scale than those conducted in 2022 and 2023. Taiwan’s military said Beijing has not declared any no-fly zones and no live ammunition has been used outside training ranges on the Chinese mainland.
According to the ministry, China has dispatched 19 warships, 16 coast guard vessels and 49 military aircraft to surround Taiwan, with 35 of the aircraft crossing the median line, which serves as the de facto border between China and Taiwan.
In response, Taiwan scrambled fighter jets, placed troops on alert and moved anti-ship missile systems to coastal areas.
Taiwan’s new president, Lai Ching-te, said at a military base in Taoyuan on Thursday that he believed the military would defend Taiwan.
China’s state news agency Xinhua said on Friday the drills were “legitimate, timely and entirely necessary as any form of ‘Taiwan independence’ behaviour is unacceptable.”
Lai was sworn in as Taiwan’s president on Monday after winning democratic elections in January. Both Lai and his predecessor, Tsai Ing-wen, are from the pro-sovereignty Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which Beijing considers separatist.
In his inaugural speech, Lai affirmed Taiwan’s sovereignty, promised to defend it and called on China to cease hostile acts. Any speech by the DPP president is likely to provoke angry reactions unless he bows to Beijing’s position that Taiwan belongs to China.
In an editorial, Xinhua said Trump’s speech was a “serious provocation” and that countermeasures from China were “inevitable.”
“Mr Lai deliberately incited hatred towards mainland China and intensified confrontation and hostility across the Straits,” the statement said.
In an editorial, the Communist Party’s mouthpiece, People’s Daily, said it is the shared belief of the Chinese people that a country’s territory cannot be divided, its country cannot be plunged into chaos, and its people cannot be separated.
A conflict over Taiwan would have dire consequences, likely involving other nations in the region and beyond. Representatives of Japan, the United States, South Korea and Australia urged calm in response to the exercises, with Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong warning that “the risk of an accident and potential escalation is increased.”
