Angry China launches ‘punishment’ war games around Taiwan

By Bernard Orr and Yimou Lee

BEIJING/TAIPEI (Reuters) – An angry China launched “punishment” drills around Taiwan on Thursday in what it said was a response to “separatist acts”, sending in heavily armed warplanes and carrying out simulated attacks while media state government denounced the recently installed president Lai Ching-te.

The drills, in the Taiwan Strait and around groups of Taiwan-controlled islands off the Chinese coast, come just three days after the inauguration of Lai, a man Beijing detests as a “separatist.”

China, which views democratically-ruled Taiwan as its own territory, denounced Lai’s inauguration speech on Monday, in which he called on China to stop its threats and said the two sides of the strait were “not subordinate to one another.” to the other.”

On Tuesday, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi called Lai “disgraceful.”

Lai has repeatedly offered negotiations with China but has been rejected. He says only the people of Taiwan can decide their future and rejects Beijing’s sovereignty claims.

The Eastern Theater Command of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) said it began joint military exercises, involving the army, navy, air force and rocket force, in areas around Taiwan at 7:45 am (23:45 GMT) .

The exercises are being conducted in the Taiwan Strait in northern, southern and eastern Taiwan, as well as in areas around the Taiwan-controlled islands of Kinmen, Matsu, Wuqiu and Dongyin, the command said in a statement.

Chinese state media said China sent dozens of fighter jets carrying real missiles and conducted simulated strikes, along with warships, against high-value military targets.

The training sessions, called “Joint Sword – 2024A”, are scheduled to last two days. However, unlike a similar “Joint Sword” exercise held in April of last year, these exercises are marked “A”, opening the door for possible follow-ups.

Taiwan’s Defense Ministry condemned the drills, saying it had deployed forces to areas around the island, that its air defenses and ground-based missile forces were tracking targets and that it was confident it could protect its territory.

“Launching military exercises on this occasion not only does not contribute to the peace and stability of the Taiwan Strait, but also highlights (China’s) militaristic mentality,” the ministry said.

Taiwan’s presidential office lamented that China is threatening the island’s democratic freedoms and regional peace and stability with its “unilateral military provocations”, but said people can rest assured that Taiwan can guarantee their security.

Chinese state broadcaster CCTV said Lai’s inauguration speech was “extremely damaging” and that China’s countermeasures were “legitimate, legal and necessary.”

Lai’s speech was a confession of Taiwan’s desire for independence and undermined cross-strait peace and stability, he said.

Taiwan’s future can only be decided by China’s 1.4 billion people, not just Taiwan’s 23 million people, he added.

NO SURPRISE

A senior Taiwanese official, speaking anonymously given the sensitivity of the matter, told Reuters that the drills were part of a scenario that Taiwan had envisaged and that the island’s government had a “comprehensive understanding” of Chinese military movements.

Taiwanese officials said before the inauguration that they were monitoring Chinese military movements. China last held large-scale war games near Taiwan in 2023 and 2022.

The exercises focus on joint air-sea combat readiness patrols, precision strikes on key targets and integrated operations within and outside the island chain to test the forces’ “actual joint combat capabilities”, China’s military said.

“This is also a strong punishment for the separatist acts of the Taiwan independence forces and a stern warning against interference and provocation by external forces,” the command added.

Chinese state media published a map of drilling zones in five areas around Taiwan and on islands that Taiwan controls near the Chinese coast.

Taiwanese officials told Reuters these areas were outside Taiwan’s contiguous zone, which is 24 nautical miles off the coast of the main island.

One of the officials said China has not announced any no-fly zone, nor has Taiwan observed any large-scale movements by China’s ground and rocket forces.

Su Tzu-yun, a researcher at Taiwan’s top military think tank, the National Defense and Security Research Institute, said that although the exercises only lasted two days, the scope is large compared to previous exercises as they included the outlying islands of Taiwan. .

This was designed to demonstrate China’s ability to control the seas and prevent the involvement of foreign forces, he said.

“The political signals here are bigger than the military ones,” he added.

There were no alarm bells in Taiwan, where people have long been accustomed to Chinese military activity. The benchmark stock index, currently at all-time highs, rose 0.2% on Thursday.

“The exercises will have a short-term psychological impact, but will not reverse the long-term upward trend of Taiwan stocks,” said Mega International Investment Services Vice President Alex Huang.

A central bank official told Reuters that the foreign exchange market was operating normally, with no abnormal inflow or outflow of foreign capital.

In August 2022, China launched live-fire military exercises around Taiwan immediately following a visit, much condemned by Beijing, by former US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. This series of exercises, the scale of which was unprecedented, lasted four days, followed by several days of additional training.

(Reporting by Yimou Lee and Bernard Orr; additional reporting by Roger Tung, Liang-sa Loh and Jeanny Kao; writing by Ben Blanchard; editing by Christopher Cushing, Gerry Doyle and Michael Perry)