China on Monday ended a day of military drills around Taiwan in which it deployed fighter jets and warships, with Beijing saying it was a “stern warning” to “separatist” forces on the self-ruled island.
Beijing has not ruled out using force to bring Taiwan under its control and Monday’s drills represent the fourth round of large-scale war games in just two years.
The United States said China’s actions were “unwarranted” and risked “escalation” and called on Beijing to exercise restraint.
Beijing announced at about 6:00 pm (1000 GMT), 13 hours after the exercises began, that they had been “successfully completed.”
The exercise, called Joint Sword-2024B, “fully tested the integrated joint operation capabilities of our troops,” military spokesman Captain Li Xi said in a statement.
“Always on high alert, troops from the theater command will continue to strengthen combat readiness with rigorous training and thwart ‘Taiwan independence separatist efforts,'” Lee said.
President Lai Ching-te, who took office in May, has been more vocal in defending Taiwan’s sovereignty than his predecessor Tsai Ing-wen, angering Beijing, which calls him a “separatist.”
Lai vowed on Monday to “defend democratic Taiwan and safeguard national security”, while the Defense Ministry said it had sent “appropriate forces” in response to the exercises.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Mao Ning said, “Taiwan independence and peace in the Taiwan Strait are incompatible”.
Calling it a single-day record, a defense ministry official said Taiwan detected 125 Chinese aircraft, including fighter jets and drones, around the island between 5:02 am (2102 GMT) and 4:30 pm. Seventeen warships were also seen.
Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said the outlying islands administered by Taipei were placed on “high alert”.
Beijing said its drills served as a “strong warning to the separatist acts of Taiwan independence forces.”
Li previously said the exercises took place in “areas north, south and east of Taiwan island.”
Their purpose, Lee said, was to “focus on the topics of sea-air combat-readiness patrol, blockade on major ports and areas”.
They also practiced “attacks on sea and land targets”.
The previous large-scale exercise, held in May three days after Lai’s inauguration, was called “Joint Sword-2024A” and lasted two days.
China Coast Guard ‘inspection’
China’s coast guard was also sent to “observe”, a picture released by the coast guard showed four fleets circling Taiwan and moving in a counterclockwise direction around the island.
The coast guard of the eastern province of Fujian – Taiwan’s closest territory to the mainland – also said it conducted “extensive law enforcement patrols” in waters near the Taipei-controlled Matsu Islands.
Taiwan said four “formations” of Chinese coast guard ships had patrolled the island and briefly entered its restricted waters, but not its prohibited waters.
China has increased military activity around Taiwan in recent years, sending warplanes and other military aircraft, while its ships maintain an almost constant presence around the island’s waters.
Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said on Monday, “All the country’s officers and soldiers are fully prepared in the face of enemy threats.”
Lai called a high-level security meeting on the exercises, said National Security Council Secretary-General Joseph Wu, who described the exercises as “inconsistent with international law.”
He vowed to “resist annexation” in his National Day speech on Thursday and insisted that Beijing and Taipei are “not subservient to each other”.
Lai’s Democratic Progressive Party has long defended the sovereignty and democracy of Taiwan, which has its own government, military and currency.
Beijing said on Monday that the drills were “a legitimate and necessary operation to safeguard state sovereignty and national unity.”
‘Feeling a little numb’
Lieutenant Colonel Fu Zhengnan, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Military Sciences, said in a video shared by state media that the exercises “could turn from training to war at any time”.
“If Taiwan separatists provoke even once, PLA operations around the island will be its first step,” Fu said, referring to China’s People’s Liberation Army.
Taiwan’s coast guard said Monday it had detained a Chinese man on one of its remote islands after a possible “gray zone intrusion,” referring to tactics less than direct acts of war.
People in Taipei seemed largely unaffected.
“I wouldn’t be too nervous because they practice often,” engineer Benjamin Hsiao, 34, told AFP.
“It’s not the first time in recent years anyway, so I feel a little stunned.”
AFP journalists spotted about five military jeeps armed with machine guns on Monday afternoon patrolling around Taipei Songshan Airport, which is also a military air base.
The dispute between China and Taiwan dates back to a civil war in which Chiang Kai-shek’s nationalist forces were defeated by Mao Zedong’s communist fighters in 1949 and fled to the island.
Since then, China and Taiwan have been ruled separately.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
