Taiwan condemns China's war games, calls it "blatant provocation"

Taiwan has strongly condemned China's punishment drills as a "blatant provocation" to global order.

The Chinese military's Eastern Theatre Command, responsible for the drills, released a video on its social media accounts on Saturday titled "A six-word rhyme on smashing independence." Set to martial music, the video features the words "advance, surround, lock-down, attack, destroy, and cut-off," over footage of fighters, bombers, soldiers, and animated missile attacks on Taiwan.

Beijing concluded two days of military exercises around Taiwan, simulating attacks with bombers and practicing boarding ships. The exercises, which China called "Joint Sword - 2024A," were launched three days after Lai Ching-te became Taiwan's democratically elected president, a leader Beijing labels as a "separatist."

Taiwan's defense ministry reported detecting 62 Chinese military aircraft and 27 navy ships on Friday. Among these, 46 planes crossed the Taiwan Strait's median line, a previously respected unofficial boundary between the two sides.

The ministry noted that Chinese aircraft, including advanced Su-30 fighters and nuclear-capable H-6 bombers, operated in the strait and the Bashi Channel, which separates Taiwan from the Philippines. On Friday, it released footage taken by Taiwanese air force planes of a Chinese J-16 fighter and an H-6 bomber, without specifying the location.

Chinese state television's military channel reported on Friday that the drills had ended. A commentary in the People's Liberation Army Daily confirmed the exercises lasted from Thursday to Friday, as initially announced.

China claims Taiwan, a democratically governed island, as its own territory. The recent drills were described by Beijing as "punishment" for Lai's inauguration speech, where he declared that the two sides of the Taiwan Strait are "not subordinate to each other," which China interpreted as a statement of Taiwan's separate status.

Lai has consistently offered to engage in talks with China, but these offers have been rejected. He maintains that only Taiwan's people have the right to decide their future and rejects Beijing's claims of sovereignty over the island. Taiwan's government has denounced the drills, asserting that it will not succumb to Chinese pressure.

Taiwan's presidential office stated on Saturday that China's military actions have disrupted the peaceful and stable status quo in the Taiwan Strait. They also "constitute a blatant provocation to the international order, and have aroused serious concern and condemnation from the international community," the office said in a statement.

Senior Taiwanese lawmaker Wang Ting-yu from Lai's Democratic Progressive Party suggested that the latest drills were more about making noise than escalating tensions significantly, as a response to Lai's speech. "They were comparatively more restrained than previous ones," Wang, who chairs parliament's defense and foreign affairs committee, said on social media.

Despite this, China has continued its verbal assaults on Lai. The People's Liberation Army Daily commentary, representing "the voice of the military," claimed that Lai is determined to serve as a "pawn" for external forces aiming to curb China's development. "If Taiwan independence separatist forces insist on going their own way or even take risks, the PLA will obey orders and take decisive action to resolutely smash all separatist plots," it said.