Taiwan sends troops to areas around the island after the Chinese exercises
Taiwan’s military mobilized its troops and said it was confident it could protect the island.
Taiwan’s military has mobilized its forces and said it was confident it could protect the island after China began two days of “punitive” exercises around Taiwan on Thursday in what it said was in response to “separatist acts”.
The drills, in the Taiwan Strait and around groups of Taiwan-controlled islands off the Chinese coast, come just three days after Lai Ching-te took office as Taiwan’s new president, a man Beijing detests as a “separatist.”
China, which considers democratically governed Taiwan its own territory, on Monday denounced Lai’s inauguration speech in which he called on China to stop its threats and on Tuesday Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi called Lai “disgraceful”.
Lai has repeatedly offered talks with China but was rejected. He says only the Taiwanese people can decide its future and rejects Beijing’s claims of sovereignty.
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Eastern Theater Command said it had started joint military exercises at 7:45 a.m. (2345 GMT) involving the army, navy, air force and missile force in areas around Taiwan.
The exercises will be conducted in the Taiwan Strait, northern, southern and eastern Taiwan, as well as areas around the Taiwan-controlled islands of Kinmen, Matsu, Wuqiu and Dongyin, the command said in a statement.
Taiwan’s Ministry of Defense condemned the exercises, saying it had deployed troops to areas around the island and was confident it could protect its territory.
“The launch of military exercises on this occasion not only does not contribute to peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, it also highlights the (Chinese) militaristic mentality,” the ministry said.
A senior Taiwanese official, speaking anonymously due to the sensitivity of the matter, told Reuters that the drills were part of a scenario Taiwan had expected and that the island’s government has a “comprehensive understanding” of Chinese military moves.
Taiwanese officials had said in the run-up to the inauguration that they were monitoring Chinese military movements.
The exercises focus on joint patrols in preparation for sea-to-air combat, precision strikes on key targets and integrated operations inside and outside the island chain to test the armed forces’ “joint real combat capabilities,” the Chinese military said.
“This is also a severe punishment for the separatist acts of the Taiwan independence forces and a stern warning against the interference and provocation by external forces,” the command added.
Chinese state media published a map of drilling zones in five areas around Taiwan and the islands Taiwan controls near the Chinese coast.
Su Tzu-yun, a researcher at Taiwan’s top military think tank the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said that although the exercises would last only two days, the scope is large compared to previous exercises as they also include the remote islands of Taiwan. .
This is aimed at demonstrating China’s ability to control the seas and prevent the involvement of foreign forces, he added.
“The political signals here are bigger than the military ones,” he added.
There was no concern in Taiwan, where people have long been accustomed to Chinese military activity. The benchmark stock index, currently at an all-time high, rose 0.2% on Thursday morning.
“The exercises will have a psychological impact in the short term, but will not reverse the upward trend of Taiwanese stocks in the long term,” said Alex Huang, vice president of Mega International Investment Services.
In August 2022, China launched live-fire military exercises around Taiwan, immediately following a visit strongly condemned by Beijing by former US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. That series of exercises, the scope of which was unprecedented, lasted four days, followed by several days of additional exercises.
(Only the headline and image of this report may have been reworked by Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is automatically generated from a syndicated feed.)
First print: May 23, 2024 | 8:35 am IST