China encircles Taiwan with planes and ships in ‘stern warning’ to ‘separatists’

China deployed an aircraft carrier, other ships and warplanes in large-scale military exercises surrounding Taiwan and its outlying islands Monday, simulating sealing off key ports in a move that underscores the tense situation in the Taiwan Strait. 

China’s Defense Ministry said the drills were a response to the Taiwanese president’s refusal to concede to Beijing’s demands that self-ruled Taiwan acknowledge itself as a part of the People’s Republic of China under the rule of the Communist Party. 

The drills came four days after Taiwan celebrated the founding of its government on its National Day, during which Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te said in a speech that China has no right to represent Taiwan and declared his commitment to “resist annexation or encroachment.”

“Our military will definitely deal with the threat from China appropriately” said Joseph Wu, secretary-general of Taiwan's security council at a forum in Taipei. “Threatening other countries with force violates the basic spirit of the United Nations Charter to resolve disputes through peaceful means."The Presidential Office of Taiwan called on China to “cease military provocations that undermine regional peace and stability and stop threatening Taiwan’s democracy and freedom.”

A map aired on China’s state broadcaster CCTV showed six large blocks encircling Taiwan indicating where the military drills are being held, along with circles drawn around Taiwan’s outlying islands. China's Defense Ministry has not said how long the drills will last.

China deployed its Liaoning aircraft carrier for the drills, and CCTV showed a J-15 fighter jet taking off from the decks of the carrier, though the exact location of the carrier is unclear. 

The PLA’s Eastern Theater Command spokesperson Navy Senior Captain Li Xi said the navy, army air force, and missile corps were all mobilized for the drills, as it was an integrated operation. “This is a major warning to those who back Taiwan independence and a signifier of our determination to safeguard our national sovereignty,” Li said in a statement on the service’s public media channel.

Taiwan's Defense Ministry said it had deployed its warships to designated spots in the ocean where they'd carry out surveillance and stand at ready. It also deployed its mobile missile and radar groups on land to track the vessels at sea. As of Monday morning, they had tracked 25 Chinese warplanes and seven warships and four Chinese government ships, though it did not specify what types of ships they were.

‘I don’t panic’

On the streets of Taipei, the capital, residents were undeterred. “I don’t worry, I don’t panic either, it doesn’t have any impact to me” Chang Chia-rui said.

Another Taipei resident, Jeff Huang, said: “Taiwan is very stable now, and I am used to China’s military exercises. I have been threatened by this kind of threats since I was a child, and I am used to it.”

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The U.S., Taiwan’s biggest unofficial ally, called China's response to Lai's speech unwarranted. ”We call on (Beijing's government) to act with restraint and to avoid any further actions that may undermine peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and in the broader region," State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a statement. 

China held similar large-scale exercises after Lai was inaugurated in May. Lai continues the eight-year rule of the Democratic Progressive Party that rejects China’s demand that it recognize Taiwan is a part of China. 

Also on Monday, China's Taiwan Affairs Office announced it was sanctioning two Taiwanese individuals, Puma Shen and Robert Tsao, for their work in promoting Taiwan independence. Shen is the co-founder of the Kuma Academy, a nonprofit that trains civilians on wartime readiness. Tsao donated $32.8 million to fund the academy's training courses. Shen and Tsao are forbidden to travel to China, including Hong Kong. 

China also held massive military exercises around Taiwan and simulated a blockade in 2022, after a visit to the island by Nancy Pelosi, who was then speaker of the U.S. House. China routinely states that Taiwan independence is a “dead end” and that annexation by Beijing is a historical inevitability. China’s military has increased its encircling of Taiwan’s skies and waters in the past few years, holding joint drills with its warships and fighter jets on a near-daily basis near the island. 

Taiwan was a Japanese colony before being unified with China at the end of World War II. It split away in 1949 when Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalists fled to the island as Mao Zedong’s Communists defeated them in a civil war and took power.

(AP)