It is a maneuver presented by the Chinese army as a “warning” to “separatists”, a message addressed to the Taiwanese authorities. This Monday, China deployed fighters, bombers, destroyers, frigates as well as the aircraft carrier Liaoning around Taiwan, as it has done several times in recent years.
China considers Taiwan as one of its provinces, which it has not yet succeeded in reunifying with the rest of its territory since the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949. “We are ready to work for peaceful reunification with the greatest sincerity and with all our efforts,” said Wu Qian, a spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Defense, in a press release released at the end of the maneuvers. “But we will never promise to renounce the use of force and we will never give the slightest space to those who campaign for the independence of Taiwan,” he stressed.
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A “record” of Chinese planes detected by Taiwan
This Monday’s exercises, named Joint Sword-2024B (“United Sharp Swords-2024B”), took place in areas located to the north, south and east of Taiwan, according to the Chinese army. These exercises included in particular “sea-air combat preparation patrols, the blockade of ports and key areas” and “the assault of maritime and land targets”, indicated a spokesperson for the Chinese army.
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Taiwan detected a total of 125 Chinese planes near the island, a “single-day record.”
A response to the island’s president’s speech?
These maneuvers came a few days after a speech by Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te, whose remarks are regularly considered by Beijing to be pro-independence. “The government will continue to uphold the democratic and free constitutional system, protect a democratic Taiwan and safeguard national security,” Lai Ching-te said on Facebook on Monday.
Understanding the conflict between China and Taiwan
Disputes between Beijing and Taipei date back to the long civil war which pitted communist fighters led by Mao Tse-tung against the nationalist forces of Chiang Kai-shek. Defeated by the communists, who founded the People’s Republic of China on 1is October 1949, the nationalists took refuge with many civilians in Taiwan, one of the only parts of the national territory then not conquered by the forces of Mao Tse-tung.
Beijing-Taipei ties have been execrable since 2016 and the arrival as Taiwanese president of Tsai Ing-wen, then of her successor Lai Ching-te in 2024. China regularly accuses the Taiwanese authorities of wanting to widen the cultural separation between the island and the continent. In response, it notably strengthened its military activity around the territory.
Condemnations from the United States and calls for calm from Europe
These military exercises were denounced by the United States, citing “unjustified” operations. Since 1979, Washington has recognized Beijing to the detriment of Taipei as the only legitimate Chinese power, but remains Taiwan’s most powerful ally and its main arms supplier.
The European Union, for its part, called on all parties on Monday to “show restraint” in Taiwan. The Taiwanese Ministry of Defense denounced these maneuvers, seeing them as “irrational and provocative behavior” from Beijing.
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