This Thursday morning, China deployed two days of military exercises “around the island of Taiwan” as “strong punishment” for “separatist acts” in this territory after the inauguration of a new president detested by Beijing. …
China, which has claimed sovereignty over the separately governed island since 1949 and has never ruled out using force to take control of it, denounced his words as a “confession of independence.”
The maneuvers, called Joint Sword-2024A, began early Thursday with the deployment of military aircraft and ships “around the island of Taiwan” to test their combat capabilities, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army announced.
Taiwanese authorities responded immediately and mobilized their sea, air and land forces to “defend freedom” in the face of “irrational actions and provocations that undermine regional peace and stability,” the Defense Ministry said.
In coordination with the military, the Taiwan Coast Guard deployed its fleet to “monitor movements in the surrounding maritime waters” and defend “the country’s sovereignty and security with a firm attitude.”
During the Taiwanese presidential election campaign in January, China had threatened that Lai, then outgoing vice president, was going to bring “war and decline” to the island.
On Tuesday, Chinese authorities warned of strong consequences for the new president’s inauguration speech, which promised to continue strengthening Taiwan’s defensive capabilities.
The exercises, which began at 7:45 a.m. on Thursday (1:45 a.m. Spanish time), “take place in the Taiwan Strait, to the north, south and east of the island of Taiwan,” said the official Xinhua press agency.
According to Colonel Li Xi, army spokesman, the exercises serve “a strong punishment for the separatist acts of the ‘Taiwan independence’ forces and a serious warning against interference and provocation by external forces.”
This same official explained that “they will involve the patrolling of ships and aircraft approaching areas around the island of Taiwan and integrated operations inside and outside the island chain to test joint real combat capabilities.”
Coinciding with the start of the operation, a commentator on state television CCTV defined it as “a powerful disciplinary action” against separatism in Taiwan.
The Chinese army displayed propaganda posters praising its “lethality in the Strait” in which rockets, fighter planes and naval ships appeared alongside text simulating bloodstains.
There was also a poster with rockets fired towards an island and another showing tanks emerging from the sea. “The weapon against ‘Taiwan independence’ to kill ‘independence’ is already in place,” the military said.
Relations between Beijing and Taipei have deteriorated significantly since the rise to power of Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen in 2016, who, like her successor Lai, is a staunch defender of the island’s democratic model.
Beijing increased military, diplomatic and economic pressure on this island of 23 million inhabitants that, although it barely enjoys international recognition, has a government, an army and its own currency.
“China clearly feels it needs to send a very strong message to Lai and anyone who supports him,” wrote analyst Bill Bishop in his influential Sinocism newsletter.
“We were expecting something like this, honestly,” acknowledged the deputy commander of the US army in the region, Lieutenant General Stephen Sklenka, at an event in Canberra. “It’s worrying,” he added.
In August, China had launched military exercises with similar objectives in response to a stop by then-Vice President Lai in the United States in the middle of a trip to Paraguay.
Months earlier, in April, Chinese armed forces pretended to surround the island after Tsai met in California with the Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy.
In 2022, China held massive military exercises in the area after McCarthy’s predecessor Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan.
Events in this area can have important economic consequences, since 70% of the world’s semiconductor production comes from Taiwan and more than 50% of freight containers cross the strait that separates this island from mainland China.
