China accused new Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te on Friday of pushing the autonomous island towards “war” and threatened to strengthen its “countermeasures”, on the second day of large-scale military maneuvers.
“Since taking office (Monday, editor’s note), the leader of the Taiwan region has seriously questioned the principle of one China (…), which pushes our compatriots in Taiwan into a perilous situation of war and danger,” Wu Qian, a ministry spokesperson, said in a statement.
“It’s called playing with fire, and those who play with fire will definitely get burned,” he said.
And “each time that (the movement supporting) + independence of Taiwan + provokes us, we will go a little further with our countermeasures, until the complete reunification of the motherland is achieved”, said warns the spokesperson.
These declarations come as Chinese warships and fighter planes surround Taiwan on Friday, of which Beijing claims sovereignty, as part of military maneuvers called “Joint Sword-2024A”.
Started Thursday morning in the strait, around Taiwan and near the surrounding islands, they involve the army, the navy, the air force and the rocket unit.
They are due to last until Friday inclusive but analysts warn that they could be extended or renewed soon.
| © Taiwan Coast Guard/AFP Photo released by the Taiwan Coast Guard on May 24, 2024, shows a Taiwan Coast Guard vessel (L) monitoring a Chinese Coast Guard vessel near Wuqiu Island |
Their goal is to verify the “capability of seizing power and joint strikes, as well as controlling key territories,” Li Xi, spokesperson for the Chinese army’s Eastern Theater Command, said Friday.
Beijing presented these military exercises on Thursday as a “severe punishment” against the “separatists” of the island who will end “in blood”, in reaction to the inauguration speech Monday by Lai Ching-te, perceived by China as a “avowal of Taiwan’s independence”.
Do not “resist”
Videos released by the Chinese army on Friday showed soldiers running out of a building to their combat posts and fighter jets taking off to the sound of military music.
According to state television CCTV, Chinese naval officers called on their Taiwanese counterparts not to “resist reunification by force”.
An animated Chinese military graphic shows missiles raining down on key targets to the north, south and east of the island, with a message saying it would “cut off the ships blood of Taiwan’s independence.
Four Chinese coast guard vessels entered the “forbidden waters” of two Taiwanese islands on Friday, Taipei said.
 | © AFP China’s military exercises around Taiwan |
“This is the eighth time this month that Chinese coast guard vessels have sailed in prohibited waters,” said the Taiwanese coast guard, which “urged China to exercise restraint and immediately stop his irrational behavior.”
Taiwan “will defend the values of freedom and democracy”, assured Mr. Lai on Thursday, promising to stand on “the front line with (its) brothers and sisters in the army to defend national security together”.
UN appeal
China considers Taiwan to be one of its provinces, which it has not yet succeeded in reunifying with its territory since the end of the civil war and the coming to power of the communists in 1949.
In recent years, Beijing has intensified its threats and political, economic and military pressure on Taiwan.
The UN called on all parties to “refrain from any action that could escalate tensions” and in Washington, a senior official who requested anonymity said the United States was “monitoring very closely” the situation and called on China to “restraint”.
The People’s Republic of China says it favors “peaceful” reunification with the island territory of 23 million inhabitants, but does not rule out using force.
| | © AFP A giant screen broadcasts images of Chinese military exercises around Taiwan, May 23, 2024 in Beijing |
During his swearing-in on Monday, Lai Ching-te called on China to “stop its political and military intimidation”.
The Taiwanese separatists “will be pilloried with shame for history,” Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi reacted the next day.
On Friday, the official Xinhua news agency and the Communist Party newspaper, the People’s Daily, published editorials praising the military maneuvers, castigating Mr. Lai’s “perfidious behavior” and promising to deal him “a blow severe”.
The previous large-scale Chinese military exercises around Taiwan took place in August 2023 after a visit by Mr. Lai, then vice-president, to the United States.
Beijing also launched maneuvers of historic scale in August 2022 after the visit to the island of Nancy Pelosi, then president of the American House of Representatives.
