The People’s Liberation Army continues land, sea and air exercises that began on Thursday around the autonomous island.
China’s military began its second day of war games around Taiwan, with exercises it said would test the military’s ability to “seize power” and control key areas of self-governing democracy.
When the first day of exercises, codenamed Joint Sword-2024A, began on Thursday, China described them as “punishment” following Taiwan’s new president William Lai Ching-te’s inauguration speech, in which he said Taiwan he was a “sovereign and independent”. nation whose sovereignty rests in the people.”
Lai also stressed that Taiwan will not compromise on its freedoms and called on Beijing to “stop its aggression against Taiwan.”
The exercises are part of an increasing campaign of political and military intimidation by Beijing, which claims the island as its own and has not ruled out the use of force to achieve its goal of unification.
The two-day exercises are testing the “capability of joint seizure of power, joint attacks and control of key territories”, said Colonel Li Xi, spokesman for the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Eastern Theater Command.
Taiwan mobilized its armed forces to monitor and track Chinese activity as the exercises unfolded.
On Friday, the island’s Defense Ministry published photos of F-16s, armed with live missiles, patrolling the skies.
It also showed images of Chinese coast guard ships and other navy vessels taking part in the drills near Pengjia Island, north of Taiwan.
Meanwhile, footage published by the Chinese military showed soldiers leaving a building for battle stations and jets taking off to a rousing martial tune.
State broadcaster CCTV reported that Chinese sailors appealed to their Taiwanese counterparts at sea, warning them against “resisting reunification by force.”
Blunt language
Beijing considers Lai a “troublemaker” and a “separatist”. Like his predecessor, Tsai Ing-wen, he says only the people of Taiwan can decide its future.
At Thursday’s regular press conference, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin used the kind of blunt language typically used by the country’s propaganda outlets.
“Taiwan independence forces will be left with their heads broken and blood flowing after clashing against the great…trend of China achieving complete unification,” Wang told reporters.
Beijing’s Xinhua news agency and the ruling party’s People’s Daily published editorials welcoming the exercises on Friday, attacking Lai’s “treacherous behavior” and promising a “severe coup.”
The United Nations has called on all parties to avoid escalation, while the United States – Taiwan’s strongest ally and military backer – has “strongly” urged China to act with restraint.
The defeated government of the Republic of China fled to Taiwan in 1949, after losing China’s civil war to Mao Zedong’s communists, who founded the People’s Republic of China.
The exercises are taking place in the Taiwan Strait and to the north, south and east of the island, as well as in areas around the Taipei-administered islands of Kinmen, Matsu, Wuqiu and Dongyin.
This story originally appeared on Aljazeera.com read the full story
