TAIPEI, Taiwan — China launched large-scale military drills around Taiwan on Monday, simulating strikes on sea and land targets, just days after Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te used a National Day speech to forcefully defend the island’s democracy and way of life.
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Taiwan’s defense ministry “expressed strong condemnation for such irrational and provocative behavior,” adding that it had dispatched troops to respond and protect Taiwan. Lai convened national security meetings on Monday morning to discuss Taiwan’s response, according to a statement from Taiwan’s presidential office.
“China’s conducting of military exercises aims to undermine regional peace and stability, and its continuous use of force to threaten and coerce neighboring countries does not align with the expectations of the international community,” Lai said in a statement Monday.
The U.S. is “seriously concerned,” Matthew Miller, a U.S. State Department spokesperson, said in a statement, adding that China’s “response with military provocations to a routine annual speech is unwarranted and risks escalation.”
The Chinese Communist Party considers the island democracy of 23 million its territory, and it regularly threatens to take control by force should Taipei declare formal independence.
The drills were not, however, unexpected.
Although analysts characterized Lai’s speech last week as relatively restrained, there has been a growing expectation that China would use this as a catalyst to launch more military drills around Taiwan, like it has during other sensitive political moments.
In May, after Lai’s inauguration, China launched large-scale military drills as “punishment for separatist acts,” calling the exercises “Joint Sword 2024-A.” The “A” categorization raised the specter that there would be a “B” follow-up some time this year.
The Eastern Theater Command, the part of the Chinese military which oversees an area including Taiwan, on Monday said the “Joint Sword 2024-B” exercises involve a barrage of vessels and aircraft “in close proximity from different directions” to Taiwan.
The Chinese government did not institute a no-fly zone around Taiwan during these drills, as it did in the exercises following former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s high-profile visit to the island in 2022.
The drills are designed to test “sea-air combat-readiness patrol, blockade on key ports and areas, assault on maritime and ground targets, as well as joint seizure of comprehensive superiority,” the command said in statement.
The Liaoning, one of China’s aircraft carriers, is taking part in the exercises and, according to the Eastern Theater Command, on Monday was off Taiwan’s east coast — the far side of the island from China.
China began sending its aircraft carriers to practice attacking Taiwan from the east last year, projecting its power into the Pacific Ocean, an area traditionally dominated by the United States and its regional allies.
China’s Coast Guard also announced that it sent vessels to encircle the main island of Taiwan, the first time China has done so in a military drill against Taiwan.
Taiwan’s Coast Guard said it set up a response center and warned that China’s actions have “severely impacted peace in the Taiwan Strait and regional stability, with the intention of changing the status quo in the Taiwan Strait.”
“By sending more coast guard vessels to patrol around Taiwan, Beijing hopes to establish a law enforcement presence, signaling that it has authority over the waters surrounding Taiwan,” said Chieh Chung, a researcher at the Association of Strategic Foresight, a Taiwanese think tank.
“By occupying the position in the Western Pacific, its main objective is to strike Taiwan’s east, where the Taiwanese military’s combat power is preserved, while also dealing with possible interventions by the U.S. military,” said Chieh.
Beijing has embarked on a long-running effort to weaken Taiwanese resolve and build a military advantage by combining real-world combat practice with ominous propaganda designed to send a warning to Taipei, analysts said.
“It didn’t matter how restrained the speech was,” Ja Ian Chong, an associate professor of political science at the National University of Singapore, said of Lai’s address last week.
The drills are part of Beijing’s continuing pressure campaign against Taiwan, “to bring it to heel,” he said.
“Beijing had also used Lai’s speech as an excuse because they are eager to make it appear that they are not the aggressors or seeking to change the status quo unilaterally,” Chong said.
Just ahead of the drills on Monday morning, China’s Eastern Theater Command posted a dramatic short video on social media, showing its fighter jets, warships and missile-launchers in action. “The troops are ready for battle all the time and can fight at any time,” its caption said.
Taiwan’s defense ministry also released its own video on Monday: “We steel our will and prepare for conflicts we do not seek,” the video declared.
On Monday afternoon, Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said it had detected 125 Chinese jets, including 90 that entered Taiwan’s air defense identification zone, since that morning — the most ever recorded in a single day. It also said it detected 17 Chinese warships and 17 coast guard ships around the island.
