Taiwan has condemned the latest round of Chinese military drills around the self-governing island as an \u201cunreasonable provocation\u201d after Beijing deployed warships and fighter jets in what it described as a \u201cstern warning\u201d to \u201cseparatist acts of Taiwan independence forces.\u201d <\/p>\n
The Chinese military\u2019s Eastern Theater Command said Monday that the drills, involving joint operations of the army, navy, air force and rocket force, are being conducted in the Taiwan Strait \u2013 a narrow body of water separating the island from mainland China \u2013 as well as encircling Taiwan. <\/p>\n
China\u2019s military exercises around Taiwan, a democracy of 23 million people, have become increasingly frequent in recent years and have tended to coincide with events that have angered Beijing. <\/p>\n
In August 2022, China launched a week of military drills following a visit to the island by then-US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. <\/p>\n
Similar drills in May came after the inauguration of Taiwan President Lai Ching-te, whom Beijing has denounced as a \u201cdangerous separatist.\u201d The latest exercises are code-named Joint Sword-2024B, implying it\u2019s a follow-up to the drills five months ago. <\/p>\n
Ahead of the drills, the Eastern Theater Command released a propaganda video entitled \u201cprepared for battle\u201d on its social media accounts. <\/p>\n
The roughly one-minute video shows fighter jets, warships and amphibious assault vessels in the air and at sea, and mobile missile launchers being moved into place. Accompanying text said the command is \u201cprepared for battle at all times and can fight anytime.\u201d <\/p>\n
In a statement, Taiwan\u2019s Defense Ministry said it strongly condemns the drills as an \u201cunreasonable provocation\u201d by China and said it has dispatched its own forces. <\/p>\n
A statement from Taiwan\u2019s presidential office called on China to \u201ccease military provocations that undermine regional peace and stability, and stop threatening Taiwan\u2019s democracy and freedom.\u201d <\/p>\n
President Lai had convened national security meetings to discuss responses to the drills, it added. <\/p>\n
On Sunday, Taiwan\u2019s Defense Ministry said the Chinese aircraft carrier Liaoning entered waters near the strategic Bashi Channel south of Taiwan, which separates the island from the Philippines, and that it anticipates the carrier to sail toward the western Pacific Ocean. <\/p>\n
The drills came after President Lai gave a speech on Taiwan\u2019s National Day Thursday, saying the island \u201cis not subordinate\u201d to China and that Beijing \u201cdoes not have the right to represent Taiwan.\u201d <\/p>\n
The speech followed earlier comments, where Lai said it was \u201cabsolutely impossible\u201d for Communist China to become Taiwan\u2019s motherland and that Taiwan is already a \u201csovereign and independent country.\u201d <\/p>\n
Lai has long faced Beijing\u2019s wrath for championing Taiwan\u2019s sovereignty and rejecting the Chinese Communist Party\u2019s claims over the island. <\/p>\n
Despite having never controlled Taiwan, China\u2019s ruling Communist Party has vowed to \u201creunify\u201d with the self-governing democracy, by force if necessary. But many people on the island view themselves as distinctly Taiwanese and have no desire to be part of the People\u2019s Republic of China (PRC). <\/p>\n
Successive Chinese leaders have vowed to one day take control of Taiwan. But Xi Jinping, China\u2019s most assertive leader in decades, has ramped up rhetoric and aggression against the democratic island, fueling tension across the strait and raising concerns for a military confrontation. <\/p>\n
The People\u2019s Liberation Army (PLA) said it kicked off the Monday exercises \u201cwith vessels and aircraft approaching Taiwan Island in close proximity from different directions.\u201d <\/p>\n
The drills focused on \u201csea-air combat-readiness patrol, blockade on key ports and areas, assault on maritime and ground targets, as well as joint seizure of comprehensive superiority,\u201d according to a statement from the PLA\u2019s Eastern Command. <\/p>\n
The PLA did not say whether the drills involved live fire exercises, and, as of now, China has not launched any missiles. Previous drills in 2022 did include the launch of missiles. <\/p>\n
A map released by the command shows drills taking place in nine areas surrounding Taiwan as well as its outlying islands that are closer to mainland China. <\/p>\n
The drills also involved China\u2019s Coast Guard, operating in areas around Taiwan and its outlying islands of Matsu and Dongyin, located just off China\u2019s southeastern coast. <\/p>\n
Between 5 a.m. and 8 a.m. local time Monday, Taiwan\u2019s Defense Ministry detected 25 Chinese aircraft, including 16 that crossed the Median Line, an informal demarcation point in the Taiwan Strait that Beijing does not recognize, but until recent years had largely respected. <\/p>\n
A total of seven Chinese warships plus additional Coast Guard vessels were detected near the Taiwan Strait, according to the ministry. <\/p>\n
The United States said it was \u201cseriously concerned\u201d by the military exercises, calling them a \u201cresponse with military provocations to a routine annual speech\u201d that \u201cis unwarranted and risks escalation.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cWe 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,\u201d State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a statement. <\/p>\n
This story has been updated with additional information.<\/em> <\/p>\n<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Taiwan has condemned the latest round of Chinese military drills around the self-governing island as an \u201cunreasonable provocation\u201d after Beijing deployed warships and fighter jets in what it described as a \u201cstern warning\u201d to \u201cseparatist acts of Taiwan independence forces.\u201d The Chinese military\u2019s Eastern Theater Command said Monday that the drills, involving joint operations of <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8680,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-8679","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8679","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8679"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8679\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8680"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8679"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8679"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8679"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}