China Ends War Games, Taiwan Condemns them as ‘Blatant Provocation’


This undated handout photograph released on May 24, 2024 by the Eastern Theater Command of China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) shows a naval vessel sailing at sea during the "Joint Sword-2024A" military drill at an unknown location. (Photo by EASTERN THEATER COMMAND OF THE PEOPLE'S LIBERATION ARMY / AFP)
This undated handout photograph released on May 24, 2024 by the Eastern Theater Command of China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) shows a naval vessel sailing at sea during the "Joint Sword-2024A" military drill at an unknown location. (Photo by EASTERN THEATER COMMAND OF THE PEOPLE'S LIBERATION ARMY / AFP)
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China Ends War Games, Taiwan Condemns them as ‘Blatant Provocation’


This undated handout photograph released on May 24, 2024 by the Eastern Theater Command of China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) shows a naval vessel sailing at sea during the "Joint Sword-2024A" military drill at an unknown location. (Photo by EASTERN THEATER COMMAND OF THE PEOPLE'S LIBERATION ARMY / AFP)
This undated handout photograph released on May 24, 2024 by the Eastern Theater Command of China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) shows a naval vessel sailing at sea during the "Joint Sword-2024A" military drill at an unknown location. (Photo by EASTERN THEATER COMMAND OF THE PEOPLE'S LIBERATION ARMY / AFP)

China ended two days of war games around Taiwan in which it simulated attacks with bombers and practiced boarding ships, exercises that Taiwan condemned as "blatant provocation" on Saturday, detailing a surge of Chinese warplanes and warships.
Chinese state television's military channel said late on Friday the drills had concluded, Reuters reported. A commentary in the official People's Liberation Army Daily said they had lasted for two days from Thursday to Friday, as previously announced.

China, which claims democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory, launched the "Joint Sword - 2024A" exercises three days after Lai Ching-te became Taiwan's president, a man Beijing calls a "separatist".
Beijing said the exercises were "punishment" for Lai's Monday inauguration speech, in which he said the two sides of the Taiwan Strait were "not subordinate to each other", which China viewed as a declaration the two are separate countries.
Lai has repeatedly offered talks with China but been rebuffed. He says only Taiwan's people can decide their future, and rejects Beijing's sovereignty claims. Taiwan's government has condemned the drills, saying it will not be cowed by Chinese pressure.
Taiwan's defense ministry said it had detected 62 Chinese military aircraft and 27 navy ships on Friday, including 46 planes that crossed the Taiwan Strait's median line, which previously served as an unofficial barrier between the two sides.
Chinese aircraft, including advanced Su-30 fighters and nuclear-capable H-6 bombers, flew in the strait as well as into the Bashi Channel that separates Taiwan from the Philippines, the ministry said.
On Friday it published footage taken by Taiwanese air force planes of a Chinese J-16 fighter and an H-6 but did not say exactly where it was taken.
Taiwan's presidential office on Saturday that China's military moves had undermined the peaceful and stable status quo in the Taiwan Strait.
They "also constitute a blatant provocation to the international order, and have aroused serious concern and condemnation from the international community", it said in a statement.
The Chinese military's Eastern Theater Command, whose forces carried out the drills, released a video on its social media accounts on Saturday called "A six-word rhyme on smashing independence", set to stirring martial music.
The words "advance, surround, lock-down, attack, destroy and cut-off" flash up over footage of fighters, bombers, soldiers and animated mock missile attacks on Taiwan.
China has over the past four years regularly staged military activities around Taiwan, including large-scale war games in 2022 and in 2023.
However, senior Taiwan lawmaker Wang Ting-yu from Lai's Democratic Progressive Party said the latest drills appeared to be more about China making a noise than upping the ante, given it had to respond to Lai's speech.
"They were comparatively more restrained than previous ones," Wang, who chairs parliament's defense and foreign affairs committee, said on social media.
Still, China has kept up a barrage of invective against Lai.
The People's Liberation Army Daily commentary, published as "the voice of the military", said Lai was determined to act as a "pawn" for external forces to curb China's development.
"If Taiwan independence separatist forces insist on going their own way or even take risks, the PLA will obey orders and take decisive action to resolutely smash all separatist plots," it said.



China Vows Utmost Efforts for ‘Peaceful Reunification’ with Taiwan 

A man walks past a hoisted Taiwanese flag at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei on October 15, 2024. (AFP)
A man walks past a hoisted Taiwanese flag at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei on October 15, 2024. (AFP)
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China Vows Utmost Efforts for ‘Peaceful Reunification’ with Taiwan 

A man walks past a hoisted Taiwanese flag at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei on October 15, 2024. (AFP)
A man walks past a hoisted Taiwanese flag at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei on October 15, 2024. (AFP)

China will exert utmost efforts to realize "peaceful reunification" with Taiwan, but will take all necessary steps to safeguard China's territorial integrity, its foreign ministry said on Monday.

China claims democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory despite the objection of the government in Taipei. Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te says only Taiwan's people can decide their future.

Last week, on the sidelines of China's annual meeting of parliament, Foreign Minister Wang Yi told reporters that Taiwan would never be a "country", and to support "Taiwan independence" was to interfere in China's internal affairs.

China is "willing to do our utmost to strive for the prospect of peaceful reunification with the greatest sincerity," said Mao Ning, spokesperson at the foreign ministry, when asked about Wang's remarks on Taiwan.

"At the same time, China will take all necessary measures to safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity and resolutely oppose Taiwan independence and external interference," Mao said.

In recent years, Beijing has ramped up its military pressure against the island, including holding several rounds of war games, keeping alive the prospect of the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control.

The United States is Taiwan's key arms supplier even in the absence of formal diplomatic ties, but there is no defense treaty, unlike in the case of Japan and South Korea.

The United States must cease its arms sales to Taiwan and stop all military contacts with the island, Mao told reporters.

"The Taiwan issue is the core of China's core interests and the first insurmountable red line in Sino-US relations," she warned.