Chinese warships and fighter planes surround Taiwan on Friday, on the second day of military maneuvers intended according to Beijing to test its ability to “take power” in the autonomous island after the inauguration of the new president.
These maneuvers, called “Joint Sword-2024A”, come after the swearing-in on Monday of Lai Ching-te, whose inauguration speech was perceived by China as an “admission of Taiwan’s independence”. Started Thursday morning, they involve the army, the navy, the air force and the rocket unit. They are due to last until Friday inclusive but analysts warn that they could be extended or renewed soon.
Their goal is to verify the “capability of seizing power and joint strikes, as well as controlling key territories,” Li Xi, spokesperson for the Chinese army’s Eastern Theater Command, said Friday. Beijing presented these military exercises on Thursday as “severe punishment” against the “separatists” of the island who will end “in blood”.
Do not “resist”
Videos released by the Chinese military on Friday showed soldiers running out of a building to their combat stations and fighter jets taking off to the sound of military music. According to state television CCTV, Chinese naval officers called on their Taiwanese counterparts not to “resist reunification by force”.
An animated Chinese military graphic showed missiles raining down on key targets to the north, south and east of the island, with a message claiming it would “cut the blood vessels of the independence of Taiwan.
Four Chinese coast guard vessels entered the “forbidden waters” of two Taiwanese islands on Friday, Taipei said. “This is the eighth time this month that Chinese coast guard vessels have sailed in prohibited waters,” said the Taiwanese coast guard, which “urged China to exercise restraint and immediately stop his irrational behavior.”
Taiwan “will defend the values of freedom and democracy”, promised Thursday Lai Ching-te, described by Beijing as a “dangerous separatist” for his past declarations in favor of the independence of the island, even if he has since moderated his speech. “I will stand on the front line with our brothers and sisters in the army to defend national security together,” he assured.
China’s military exercises around Taiwan
© / afp.com/Nicholas SHEARMAN
UN appeal
China considers that Taiwan is one of its provinces, which it has not yet succeeded in reunifying with its territory since the end of the civil war and the coming to power of the communists in 1949. For several years, Beijing has intensified its threats and political, economic and military pressure on Taiwan.
These maneuvers constitute a “severe punishment for the separatist acts of the + Taiwan independence + forces and a severe warning against interference and provocation by external forces,” Li Xi said on Thursday. They take place “in the Taiwan Strait, to the north, south and east of the island of Taiwan, as well as in areas around the islands of Kinmen, Matsu, Wuqiu and Dongyin” – close to the coast is Chinese, he said.
The UN called on all parties to “refrain from any action that could escalate tensions” and in Washington, a senior official who requested anonymity said the United States was “monitoring very closely” the situation and called on China to “restraint”.
The People’s Republic of China says it favors “peaceful” reunification with the island territory of 23 million inhabitants, but does not rule out using force. During his swearing-in on Monday, Lai Ching-te called on China to “stop its political and military intimidation”. The Taiwanese separatists “will be pilloried with shame for history,” Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi reacted the next day.
On Friday, the official Xinhua news agency and the Communist Party newspaper, the People’s Daily, published editorials praising the military maneuvers, castigating Mr. Lai’s “perfidious behavior” and promising to deal him “a blow severe”. The previous large-scale Chinese military exercises around Taiwan took place in August 2023 after a visit by Mr. Lai, then vice-president, to the United States.