Chinese forces out to ‘punish’ Taiwan’s ‘separatist acts’

Chinese forces have surrounded Taiwan in what Beijing said was ‘strong punishment’ for the ­island’s ‘separatist acts’.

A Taiwanese air force Mirage 2000 fighter jet prepares for take off at a base in Hsinchu in northern Taiwan after China announced it had encircled the island. Picture: AFP

Chinese forces have surrounded Taiwan in what Beijing said was “strong punishment” for the ­island’s “separatist acts”.

The military action, which Beijing described an “exercise”, comes after Lai Ching-te was sworn in as Taiwan’s new President this week and made an ­inauguration speech that China denounced as a “confession of ­independence”.

Communist China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has vowed to bring the island under its rule, by force if necessary.

The drills, scheduled to last for two days, involve military aircraft and naval vessels surrounding the island to test their combat capabilities, China’s People’s Liberation Army said.

Taiwan responded quickly to China’s announcement on Thursday, saying it had deployed sea, air and ground forces to ­“defend freedom”. “The Ministry of National Defence strongly condemned such irrational provocations and actions that undermine regional peace and stability,” it said.

China has previously branded Mr Lai a “dangerous separatist” who would bring “war and ­decline” to the island.

On Tuesday, it warned of strong reprisals to Mr Lai’s inauguration speech, in which he vowed to continue to build up Taiwan’s defence capabilities.

“In face of the many threats and attempts of infiltration from China, we must demonstrate our resolution to defend our nation,” said Mr Lai, 64.

The drills, which began at 7.45am local time, are taking place in the Taiwan Strait and to the north, south and east of the ­island, PLA Eastern Theater Command Naval Colonel Li Xi said.

They serve as a “strong punishment for the separatist acts of Taiwan independence forces and a stern warning against the interference and provocation by external forces”, Colonel Li said.

As the drills – dubbed Joint Sword-2024A – were launched, commentary on state Chinese broadcaster CCTV declared them to be “a powerful disciplinary ­action” against Taiwanese separatism.

China’s military issued a series of posters touting what it called its “cross-strait lethality”. They featured rockets, jets and naval vessels next to blood-stained text.

One showed rockets being fired at an island, while another showed tanks emerging from the sea. “The weapon aimed at ‘Taiwan independence’ to kill ‘independence’ is already in place,” it declared.

Beijing, which split with Taipei at the end of a civil war in 1949, ­regards the island as a renegade province with which it must eventually be reunified.

Relations have plunged in recent years as China has stepped up pressure on the democratic island of 23 million people, periodically stoking worries about a potential invasion. “(China) clearly feels it needs to send a very strong message to Lai and anyone who supports him,” analyst Bill Bishop wrote in his influential Sinocism newsletter.

The last time China announced military exercises around Taiwan was in August 2023 after Mr Lai, then vice-president, stopped over in the United States on a visit to Paraguay.

Those drills also tested the PLA’s ability “to seize control of air and sea spaces” and fight “in real combat conditions”, according to state media.

Beijing at the time described them as a “stern warning”.

They followed April drills that simulated the encirclement of the island, launched after Mr Lai’s predecessor Tsai Ing-wen met then-US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in California.

China also launched major military exercises in 2022 after Nancy Pelosi, then the speaker of the US House of Representatives, visited Taiwan.

The Taiwan Strait is one of the world’s most important maritime trade arteries, and the island itself is a major tech manufacturer, particularly of semiconductors.

AFP