China used a record 125 aircraft, as well as the Liaoning aircraft carrier and its ships, in large-scale military maneuvers surrounding Taiwan and its outlying islands on Monday, simulating the closure of major ports in a move that highlights the tense situation in the Taiwan Strait. Officials said.
China made clear that it would punish the President of Taiwan for rejecting Beijing’s claim to sovereignty over the self-governing island.
The exercises came four days after Taiwan celebrated the establishment of its government on its National Day, when Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te said in a speech that China had no right to represent Taiwan and declared his commitment to “resist annexation or encroachment.”
“This is a severe punishment for Lai Ching-te’s continued fabrication of Taiwan independence nonsense,” China’s Taiwan Affairs Office said in a statement.
Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense said 90 aircraft, including warplanes, helicopters and drones, were spotted within Taiwan’s air defense identification zone. The ministry said the single-day record was that aircraft were counted from 5:02 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and cargo traffic was operating as usual.
Taiwan remained defiant. “Our military will definitely deal with the Chinese threat appropriately,” Joseph Wu, Secretary-General of Taiwan’s Security Council, said at a forum in Taipei, Taiwan’s capital. He added, “Threatening other countries with force violates the basic spirit of the United Nations Charter to resolve disputes by peaceful means.”
The Taiwanese presidential office also called on China to “stop military provocations that undermine regional peace and stability and stop threatening democracy and freedom in Taiwan.”
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A map broadcast by China Central Broadcasting Corporation (CCTV) showed six large blocks surrounding Taiwan indicating where military exercises were being held, along with circles drawn around Taiwan’s outlying islands.
Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said the six zones focused on key strategic locations around and on the island.
China deployed the Liaoning aircraft carrier to conduct exercises, and CCTV footage showed a J-15 fighter jet taking off from the deck of the carrier.
The spokesman for the Eastern Theater Command of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, Senior Captain Li Shi, said on Monday evening that the exercises were completed successfully.
Lee said that the Navy, Army Air Force and Missile Corps were all mobilized to participate in the exercises, which was an integrated operation. “This is a major warning to those who support Taiwan independence and a sign of our determination to protect our national sovereignty,” Lee said in a statement on the service’s public media channel.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Mao Ning said at a daily press conference that China does not consider relations with Taiwan a diplomatic issue, in line with its refusal to recognize Taiwan as a sovereign state.
“I can tell you that Taiwan independence is as incompatible with peace in the Taiwan Strait as fire is incompatible with water. Provocations by Taiwan independence forces will certainly be met with countermeasures,” Mao said.
Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said it had deployed warships to specific locations in the ocean to conduct surveillance and preparedness. It also deployed mobile missile and radar groups on land to track ships at sea. It said that as of Monday morning, it had tracked 25 Chinese warplanes, seven warships and four Chinese government vessels, though it did not specify the types of ships.
On the streets of Taipei, residents were undeterred. “I don’t worry, and I don’t panic either, it has no effect on me,” Zhang Qiarui said.
Taipei resident Jeff Huang said: “Taiwan is very stable now, and I am used to Chinese military exercises. I have been exposed to these kinds of threats since I was a child, and I am used to it.”
The United States, Taiwan’s largest unofficial ally, called China’s response to Lai’s speech unjustified. “We call on (the Beijing government) to exercise restraint and avoid any further actions that might undermine peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and in the broader region,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement.
China conducted similar large-scale exercises after Lai’s inauguration in May. Lai continues the eight-year rule of the Democratic Progressive Party, which rejects China’s request to recognize Taiwan as part of China.
China also conducted massive military exercises around Taiwan and simulated a blockade in 2022 after a visit to the island by Nancy Pelosi, who was then Speaker of the US House of Representatives. China routinely states that Taiwan independence is a “dead end” and that Beijing’s annexation is a historical inevitability. The Chinese army has increased its encirclement of the skies and waters of Taiwan in the past few years, and has conducted joint exercises with its warships and fighter aircraft on an almost daily basis near the island.
Also on Monday, China’s Taiwan Affairs Office announced that it had imposed sanctions on two Taiwanese individuals, Puma Chen and Robert Cao, for promoting Taiwan independence. Shin is the co-founder of Kuma Academy, a non-profit group that trains civilians for wartime preparedness. Cao donated $32.8 million to fund the academy’s training courses. Shen and Cao are banned from traveling to China, including Hong Kong.
Taiwan was a Japanese colony before it was unified with China at the end of World War II. It split in 1949 when Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalists fled to the island when Mao Zedong’s Communists defeated them in a civil war and seized power.
– Wu reported from Bangkok.
& Edition 2024 The Canadian Press
