China launches military maneuvers around Taiwan as 'warning'

August 19, 2023

China on Saturday staged military maneuvers around Taiwan as a “stern warning”, according to state media, after a stopover in the United States by the island’s vice president.

William Lai, a favorite in next year’s Taiwanese presidential election and a vocal opponent of Beijing’s claims to the island, returned on Friday from a trip to Paraguay during which he stopped in New York and San Francisco.

China reacted angrily to the U.S. stops and reiterated on Saturday that Mr Lai was a “troublemaker”, promising “stern warnings against Taiwan separatist separatists colluding with foreign elements and provoking them”. .

“The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Eastern Area Command on Saturday launched joint air and sea patrols and navy and air force military drills around the island of Taiwan,” it said. wrote the official New China news agency, quoting army spokesman Shi Yi.

Taiwan said it detected 42 Chinese military aircraft incursions into its air defense zone “since 0900 (0100 GMT)” on Saturday, adding that eight Chinese ships also participated in the maneuvers.

Among these incursions, 26 warplanes crossed the center line of the Taiwan Strait, the island’s defense ministry said in a statement.

According to the official New China news agency, these maneuvers are intended to test the ability of Chinese ships and planes “to take control of air and sea spaces” and to fight “in real conditions”.

They were also to serve as “stern warnings against the collusion of ‘Taiwan independence’ separatists with foreign elements and their provocations”, the agency added.

A video posted on social media by the Chinese military on Saturday shows soldiers in fatigues sprinting through a military installation and fighter jets soaring above the clouds to music.

Taiwan strongly condemned “this irrational and provocative behavior” and promised to send “appropriate forces to respond to it (…) in order to defend Taiwan’s freedom, democracy and sovereignty”.

The Taiwanese Ministry of Defense for its part declared that “conducting a military exercise (…) under a false pretext not only does not contribute to peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, but also puts highlight China’s militaristic mentality.

Washington had called for calm about the trip of Mr. Lai, who according to the Taiwanese authorities was only “transiting” through American soil before going to Paraguay to attend the inauguration of President-elect Santiago Peña.

But on Saturday, an official from the Chinese Communist Party’s office in charge of Taiwan issues “strongly condemned” Lai’s trip, calling it “further provocation” to “strengthen collusion with the United States”. , according to New China.

“Mr. Lai’s last stop…was a cover-up he used to sell Taiwan’s interests to secure gains in local elections through dishonest manoeuvres,” the official said, according to the same article.

China opposes any official contact between Western countries and Taiwan, which it considers to be one of its provinces.

Mr. Lai received the nomination of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to seek the presidency in January 2024 and succeed President Tsai Ing-wen, whose second term will end then.

On Saturday, Taiwan’s foreign minister accused China of trying to “shape” Taiwan’s 2024 election. “The PRC has made it clear that it wants to influence the upcoming national elections in Taiwan,” Joseph Wu said, using the acronym for China’s official name, on X (ex-Twitter).

“It’s up to our citizens to decide, not our tyrannical neighbor,” he said.

Beijing-Taipei relations soured in 2016 with the arrival of Tsai Ing-wen as president, with Beijing intensifying political and military pressure on the archipelago in recent years.