China Ends Military Drills Around Taiwan, Taipei Labels Them as ‘Provocative’ to Int’l Order

China has ended the large-scale military drills it kicked off on Thursday morning around Taiwan and which were accompanied by a tightening of Beijing's tone towards Taipei.
The Chinese army has “successfully completed” the “Joint Sword-2024A” drills directed against Taiwan, a presenter for CCTV-7, China's state-run military news channel, said in a broadcast late Friday.
Punishing Separatists
China said the drills would serve as “strong punishment for the separatist acts of 'Taiwan independence' forces,” according to AFP.
The drills were launched three days after Taiwan's President Lai Ching-te took office. Beijing regards Lai as a “dangerous separatist.”
On Friday, Beijing's defense ministry spokesman Wu Qian said that Lai was pushing Taiwan “into a perilous situation of war and danger.”
China called the drills a test of its ability to seize the self-ruled island.
The exercises took place all around the main island, and for the first time also targeted the Taipei-controlled islands of Kinmen, Matsu, Wuqiu and Dongyin which lie close to the Chinese coast, according to maps released by China's People's Liberation Army (PLA).
On Friday evening, China's army published images of the drills' highlights, featuring missile-launching trucks ready to fire, fighter jets taking off and naval officers looking through binoculars at Taiwanese ships.
Blatant Provocation
China's two-day military drills around Taiwan were a “blatant provocation to the international order,” Taipei said in a statement Saturday after the war games encircling the self-ruled island ended.
In a statement, Lai's presidential spokesperson Karen Kuo reiterated that ensuring peace and stability across the region was “related to the common interests of the international community.”
“However, China's recent unilateral provocation not only undermines the status quo of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait but it is also a blatant provocation to the international order, triggering serious concern and condemnation from the international community,” she said.
Taiwan has been self-governed since 1949, when nationalists fled to the island following their defeat by the Chinese Communist Party in a civil war on the mainland.
Beijing considers the democratic island part of its territory and has not ruled out using force to bring it under its control.
It has also amped up its rhetoric, with its foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin saying “Taiwan independence forces will be left with their heads broken and blood flowing after colliding against the great... trend of China achieving complete unification.”
Chinese Threats
On Monday, Taiwan's President said in his inauguration speech that the two sides of the Taiwan Strait were “not subordinate to each other,” which China viewed as a declaration the two are separate countries.
Beijing's defense ministry spokesman Wu Qian said Friday that Lai was pushing Taiwan “into a perilous situation of war and danger.”
“Every time 'Taiwan independence' provokes us, we will push our countermeasures one step further, until the complete reunification of the motherland is achieved,” he said.
Political analyst Wen-Ti Sung from The Atlantic Council's Global China Hub told AFP that “Beijing is trying to use this very high-profile show of force to not only show displeasure against Taiwan, but also... to deter and dissuade other countries and partners from contemplating further cooperation or engagement of Taiwan.”
“That furthers isolation of Taiwan, which allows Beijing to negotiate with Taiwan going forward from a position of strength,” he added.
Calls for Self-Restraint
The United States, Taiwan’s strongest ally and military backer, on Thursday “strongly” urged China to act with restraint. The United Nations called for all sides to avoid escalation.
The Pentagon announced on Friday that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin would meet his Chinese counterpart Dong Jun at the end of the month at the Shangri-La Dialogue, an annual gathering of defense officials from around the world.
It will be the first meeting between the two defense leaders following a phone call in April.

One of Israel's ultra-Orthodox parties, United Torah Judaism, said it was quitting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's ruling coalition due to a long-running dispute over failure to draft a bill to exempt yeshiva students from military service.

Six of the remaining seven members of UTJ, which is comprised of the Degel Hatorah and Agudat Yisrael factions, wrote letters of resignation. Yitzhak Goldknopf, chairman of UTJ, had resigned a month ago.

That would leave Netanyahu with a razor thin majority of 61 seats in the 120 seat Knesset, or parliament.

It was not clear whether Shas, another ultra-Orthodox party, would follow suit.

Degel Hatorah said in a statement that after conferring with its head rabbis, "and following repeated violations by the government to its commitments to ensure the status of holy yeshiva students who diligently engage in their studies ... (its MKs) have announced their resignation from the coalition and the government."

Ultra-Orthodox parties have argued that a bill to exempt yeshiva students was a key promise in their agreement to join the coalition in late 2022.

A spokesperson for Goldknopf confirmed that in all, seven UTJ Knesset members are leaving the government.

Ultra-Orthodox lawmakers have long threatened to leave the coalition over the conscription bill.

Some religious parties in Netanyahu's coalition are seeking exemptions for ultra-Orthodox Jewish seminary students from military service that is mandatory in Israel, while other lawmakers want to scrap any such exemptions altogether.

The ultra-Orthodox have long been exempt from military service, which applies to most other young Israelis, but last year the Supreme Court ordered the defense ministry to end that practice and start conscripting seminary students.

Netanyahu had been pushing hard to resolve a deadlock in his coalition over a new military conscription bill, which has led to the present crisis.

The exemption, in place for decades and which over the years has spared an increasingly large number of people, has become a heated topic in Israel with the military still embroiled in a war in Gaza.

China Ends Military Drills Around Taiwan, Taipei Labels Them as ‘Provocative’ to Int’l Order