China holds Taiwan war games, vows blood of ‘independence forces’
![Taiwan Coast Guard on May 23, 2024 shows a Chinese military ship northwest of Pengjia Island, off the coast of northern Taiwan. China on May 23 encircled Taiwan with naval vessels and military aircraft in war games aimed at punishing the self-ruled island after its new president vowed to defend democracy. (Photo by Handout / TAIWAN COAST GUARD / AFP)](https://globalnation.inquirer.net/files/2024/05/000_34TG6FY-620x413.jpg)
This handout photo taken and released by the Taiwan Coast Guard on May 23, 2024 shows a Chinese military ship northwest of Pengjia Island, off the coast of northern Taiwan. China on May 23 encircled Taiwan with naval vessels and military aircraft in war games aimed at punishing the self-ruled island after its new president vowed to defend democracy. (Photo by Handout / TAIWAN COAST GUARD / AFP)
‘Defend freedom’
China — governed by the Communist Party since 1949 — claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has vowed to bring the democratic island under its rule, by force if necessary. Thursday and Friday’s drills — codenamed “Joint Sword-2024A” — involve aircraft and ships surrounding the island to test their combat capabilities, China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) said. Taiwan responded by deploying air, ground and sea forces, with the island’s defence ministry vowing to “defend freedom”. President Lai said he would “stand on the front line” to defend Taiwan in a speech on Thursday afternoon, without directly referring to the ongoing drills. “Faced with external challenges and threats, we will continue to defend the values of freedom and democracy, and safeguard peace and stability in the region,” he said. China has repeatedly branded Lai a “dangerous separatist” who would bring “war and decline” to the island. Beijing was further incensed with his inauguration speech on Monday in which he hailed a “glorious” era for Taiwan’s democracy. The drills, which began on Thursday morning, are taking place in the Taiwan Strait and to the north, south and east of the island, as well as areas around the Taipei-administered islands of Kinmen, Matsu, Wuqiu and Dongyin. China’s military put out a series of posters touting what it called its “cross-strait lethality”. They featured rockets, jets and naval vessels next to blood-stained text. “The weapon aimed at ‘Taiwan independence’ to kill ‘independence’ is already in place,” it declared. As of around 8:00 pm (1200 GMT), Taipei’s defence ministry said 49 jets and planes had been detected since the drills began at 7:20 am. Thirty-five of the aircraft had crossed the median line bisecting the Taiwan Strait. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for all sides to “refrain from acts that could escalate tensions in the region,” his spokesman said. US President Joe Biden has previously said he does not support Taiwan’s independence but also that he would back sending forces to defend the island. The official US position on intervention is one of ambiguity. “We strongly urge Beijing to act with restraint,” a US spokesperson said, adding China’s actions “risk escalation and erode longstanding norms that have maintained regional peace and stability for decades.”Economic blockade
Beijing, which split with Taipei at the end of a civil war 75 years ago, regards the self-ruled island as a renegade province with which it must eventually be reunified. China has stepped up pressure on the island of 23 million people, periodically stoking worries about a potential invasion. A Chinese military expert told CCTV that the drills were partly aimed at rehearsing an economic blockade of the island. Zhang Chi, a professor at Beijing’s China National Defense University, said the drills aimed to “strangle” Taiwan’s critical Kaohsiung port to “severely impact” its foreign trade. They would cut off “Taiwan’s lifeline of energy imports” as well as “block the support lines that some US allies provide to ‘Taiwan independence’ forces”, he added. The last time China announced similar military exercises around Taiwan was in August last year after Lai, then vice president, stopped over in the United States on a visit to Paraguay. They followed April drills that simulated the encirclement of the island, launched after Lai’s predecessor Tsai Ing-wen met then-US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in California. World powers are keen to see as much stability as possible between China and Taiwan, not least because of the vital role the island plays in the global economy.
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