Chinese military forces held massive joint exercises around Taiwan on Monday, as a “stern warning” to separatist acts of “Taiwan independence” forces. The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) stated that these intimidating drills were a “legitimate and necessary operation for safeguarding state sovereignty and national unity.
The exercises, dubbed “Joint Sword-2024B,” were designed to send a clear message to Taiwan’s government about China’s resolve. These exercises follow the show of force China mounted in May after President William Lai Ching-te was inaugurated. The PLA insisted that the display of military might was necessary for protecting state sovereignty and national unity.
Beijing’s latest action appears to have been sparked by Lai’s National Day speech in Taipei on Thursday, where he said he would “uphold the commitment to resist annexation or encroachment upon our sovereignty.” Lai also pledged to preserve the “status quo of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait” and work with Beijing on matters of mutual interest such as climate change and infectious diseases.
Lai was firm in preserving the autonomy of his government, the Republic of China (ROC. His speech included an observation that invariably enrages Beijing: Taiwanese National Day is the anniversary of the ROC’s founding in 1911, while the People’s Republic of China (PRC) was not founded until 1949.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry slammed Lai as “intransigent” after his National Day speech and accused him of a “sinister intention to escalate tensions in the Taiwan Strait in order to seek political gains.” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning growled, “No matter what the Lai Ching-te Administration says or does, it will not be able to change the objective fact that the two sides of the Taiwan Strait belong to the same China, nor will it be able to stop the historical trend that China is bound to be reunified, and will be reunified eventually.
China’s state-run Global Times made no pretense that Operation Joint Sword-2024B was anything but an effort to bully Taiwan. The Chinese exercises involved the Liaoning aircraft carrier group, which was sighted south of Taiwan by Taiwanese defense forces. The Bashi Channel separates Taiwan from the Philippines.
China currently has three aircraft carriers. Among these is the Fujian, which appears to be far more advanced than Shandong and could even be competitive with Western carriers.