Taiwan condemns Chinese military drills around island as ‘unreasonable provocation’

Hong Kong/Taipei (CNN) — Taiwan has condemned the latest round of Chinese military drills around the self-governing island as an “unreasonable provocation” after Beijing deployed warships and fighter jets in what it described as a “stern warning” to “separatist acts of Taiwan independence forces.”

The Chinese military’s 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 – a narrow body of water separating the island from mainland China – as well as encircling Taiwan.

China’s 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.

Analysts said Monday’s drills were part of a general strategy of both keeping Taiwan under pressure and normalizing regular war games.

In August 2022, China launched a week of military drills following a visit to the island by then-US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Similar drills in May came after the inauguration of Taiwan President Lai Ching-te, whom Beijing has denounced as a “dangerous separatist.” The latest exercises are code-named Joint Sword-2024B, implying it’s a follow-up to the drills five months ago which had the same name.

Ahead of the drills, the Eastern Theater Command released a propaganda video entitled “prepared for battle” on its social media accounts.

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 “prepared for battle at all times and can fight anytime.”

In a statement, Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said it strongly condemns the drills as an “unreasonable provocation” by China and said it has dispatched its own forces.

A statement from Taiwan’s presidential office called on China to “cease military provocations that undermine regional peace and stability, and stop threatening Taiwan’s democracy and freedom.”

President Lai had convened national security meetings to discuss responses to the drills, it added.

“In the face of external threats, I would like to reassure my compatriots that the government will continue to defend the democratic and free constitutional system, protect democratic Taiwan, and safeguard national security,” Lai said in a post on Facebook.

On Sunday, Taiwan’s 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. Later, the Eastern Theater Command confirmed the carrier squadron was conducting drills east of Taiwan on “vessel and jet coordination, joint air control, and maritime and land strikes,” according to CCTV.

A spokesperson for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Monday that “Taiwan independence and peace in the Taiwan Strait are incompatible, and the provocation of Taiwan independence forces will inevitably be countered.”

Already a ‘sovereign country’

The drills came after President Lai gave a speech on Taiwan’s National Day Thursday, saying the island “is not subordinate” to China and that Beijing “does not have the right to represent Taiwan.”

The speech followed earlier comments, where Lai said it was “absolutely impossible” for Communist China to become Taiwan’s motherland and that Taiwan is already a “sovereign and independent country.”

Lai has long faced Beijing’s wrath for championing Taiwan’s sovereignty and rejecting the Chinese Communist Party’s claims over the island.

Despite having never controlled Taiwan, China’s ruling Communist Party has vowed to “reunify” 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’s Republic of China (PRC).

Successive Chinese leaders have vowed to one day take control of Taiwan. But Xi Jinping, China’s 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.

The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) said it kicked off the Monday exercises  “with vessels and aircraft approaching Taiwan Island in close proximity from different directions.”

The drills focused on “sea-air combat-readiness patrol, blockade on key ports and areas, assault on maritime and ground targets, as well as joint seizure of comprehensive superiority,” according to a statement from the PLA’s Eastern Command.

Later Monday, the PLA said it “successfully completed” the military exercise. It did not say whether the drills involved live fire exercises, but did not launch any missiles. Previous drills in 2022 did include the launch of missiles and were as a result seen as much more provocative.

“Beijing gradually, of course, is trying to get everybody used to and become more numb to this kind of show of force,” Wen-Ti Sung, Taipei-based fellow with the Atlantic Council’s Global China Hub, told CNN.

“Beijing has been trying to find ways to increase inch-by-inch the level of military deployment or the geographic scope of it in these military drills,” Sung explained. Enough to set a new precedent with each drill, he added, but carefully calibrated to avoid “coordinated international pushback.”

The ‘gray zone’

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.

The drills also involved China’s Coast Guard, operating in areas around Taiwan and its outlying islands of Matsu and Dongyin, located just off China’s southeastern coast.

Between 5 a.m. and 4 p.m. local time Monday, Taiwan’s Defense Ministry detected 125 Chinese fighter jets, choppers and drones around Taiwan, including 90 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.

A total of seven Chinese warships plus additional Coast Guard vessels were detected near the Taiwan Strait, according to the ministry.

On Monday, Taiwan’s Coast Guard said it intercepted and detained a Chinese individual near the Kinmen Islands on a raft. Since the incident coincided with the military drills, it said, it could not rule out the possibility it was part of China’s “gray zone” tactics against Taiwan, and it has heightened its alertness.

Gray zone tactics refer to actions just below what might be considered acts of war.

Chen Ming-chi, associate professor at the Center for Contemporary China at National Tsinghua University, told CNN the drills were “highly dangerous” and because they are “approaching, closer and closer,” will “leave us [with] a very short response time.”

“We don’t like to see the complacency kick in. That is not good for any normal country,” Chen said.

Chinese military exercises in the Western Pacific are estimated to be a multi-billion dollar operation. In 2023, China spent more than $15 billion on deploying its warships, most of which were tracked in the South China Sea, and on flights by its Air Force — with most recorded in the Taiwan Strait — according to Taiwanese military documents seen by CNN in August, first reported by Reuters.

During Chinese drills around Taiwan in May, 91 warship sailings were recorded over 2,200 operating hours at an estimated cost of $12.7 million. Taiwan logged Chinese jets making 111 flights which cost China about $47.8 million.

The United States said it was “seriously concerned” by the latest military exercises, calling them a “response with military provocations to a routine annual speech” that “is unwarranted and risks escalation.”

“We 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,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a statement.

This story has been updated with additional information.

The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2024 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.