Reuters :
China’s military carried out a second day of war games around Taiwan on Friday, with drills to test its ability to “seize power” and control key areas in exercises Beijing has said were launched to punish Taiwan’s new president, Lai Ching-te.
The two days of drills in the Taiwan Strait and around groups of Taiwan-controlled islands near the Chinese coast, which a Taiwanese official said included the mock bombing of foreign vessels, started just three days after Lai took office. Taiwan has condemned China’s actions.
China views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory and denounces Lai as a “separatist”. It strongly criticised his inauguration speech on Monday, in which he urged Beijing to stop its threats and said the two sides of the strait were “not subordinate to each other”.
The Eastern Theatre Command of the People’s Liberation Army said in a brief statement that its forces on Friday continued with their drills, dubbed “Joint Sword – 2024A”.
The exercises are to “test the ability to jointly seize power, launch joint attacks and occupy key areas”, it said.
China has never ruled out the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control.
A senior Taiwan security official told Reuters that several Chinese bombers conducted mock attacks on foreign vessels near the eastern end of the Bashi Channel, which separates Taiwan from the Philippines, practicing how to seize “total control” of areas west of the first island chain.
The first island chain refers to the area that runs from Japan through Taiwan, the Philippines and on to Borneo, enclosing China’s coastal seas. The official, speaking anonymously given the sensitivity of the situation, said several Chinese coast guard boats also conduced “harassment” drills off Taiwan’s east coast, including mock inspections of civilian ships.
China’s Coast Guard said in a brief statement it had conducted “law enforcement drills” in waters east of Taiwan on Friday, focused on training on verification and identification, warning and repulsion.
The Chinese theatre command showed an animated video on Friday on its WeChat social media account of missiles being launched at Taiwan from the ground, air and sea, which then slam into the cities of Taipei, Kaohsiung and Hualien in balls of flame.