Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te waves at the podium during National Day celebrations in front of the Presidential Office in Taipei on October 10, 2024. (Photo by WALID BERRAZEG / AFP)
China on Monday launched military drills around Taiwan, Beijing’s defense ministry said, sending planes and ships to encircle the self-ruled island.
Beijing maintains a near-daily military presence around Taiwan and Monday’s drills represent its fourth round of large-scale war games in the past two years.
The drills, dubbed Joint Sword-2024B, “test the joint operations capabilities of the theater command’s troops,” Beijing said.
They are taking place in “areas to the north, south and east of Taiwan Island” Captain Li Xi, spokesman for the Chinese military’s Eastern Theater Command, said.
The drills are “focusing on subjects of sea-air combat-readiness patrol, blockade on key ports and areas,” Li said.
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They also practiced an “assault on maritime and ground targets” and “joint seizure of comprehensive superiority.”
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China has ramped up military activity around Taiwan in recent years, sending in warplanes and other military aircraft while its ships maintain a near-constant presence around the island’s waters.
Beijing has not ruled out using force to bring the democratically-run island under its control.
The United States and Taiwan had urged China against taking action in response to a speech by Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te during the island’s National Day celebrations last week.
Lai, who took office in May, has been more outspoken than his predecessor Tsai Ing-wen in defending Taiwan’s sovereignty, angering the Chinese government, which calls him a “separatist.”
In his speech on Thursday, Lai vowed to “resist annexation” of the island, and insisted Beijing and Taipei were “not subordinate to each other.”
Beijing on Monday said its drills served as a “stern warning to the separatist acts of ‘Taiwan Independence’ forces.”
“It is a legitimate and necessary operation for safeguarding state sovereignty and national unity,” Li said.
In his speech, Lai expressed hope for “healthy and orderly dialogue and exchanges” with China, and urged Beijing to use its influence to help end conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine.
While Taiwan has its own government, military and currency, it has never declared formal independence from mainland China.
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Beijing has sought to erase Taipei from the international stage, blocking it from global forums and poaching its diplomatic allies.
