Chinese military troops began manoeuvers near Taiwan on Saturday, sending out what it called a "serious warning" to separatist groups in response to Taiwanese Vice-President William Lai's trip to the United States. Lai, the leading contender for Taiwan's upcoming presidential elections in January, returned from the US on Friday after making brief stops en route to and from Paraguay, where he delivered speeches.
Despite the island's government's firm objections, China considers the democratically governed Taiwan part of its own territory.
News agency AFP quoted an official from the Chinese Communist Party's Taiwan office as saying: "Lai's latest stopover... was a disguise he used to sell out the interests of Taiwan in order to seek gains in the local election through dishonest moves."
The Eastern Theatre Command of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, which oversees the region surrounding Taiwan, said that it was conducting combined naval and aerial combat readiness patrols around the island, reported news agency Reuters. It also specified that it was conducting joint exercises and training involving naval and air forces, with a focus on themes like ship-aircraft coordination and takeover maneuvers, aimed at assessing the forces' "actual combat capabilities". The statement read, "This is a serious warning against Taiwan independence separatist forces colluding with external forces to provoke."
Taiwan said the military exercises don't contribute to peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait but instead underscore China's militaristic mindset. Taiwan's defence ministry slammed the military exercises and said it would issue an appropriate response to safeguard its independence and national security.
The nature of Saturday's operations is unclear till now. Regional defence attachés and analysts were closely observing the scale and intensity of the activities, comparing them to China's intensive military drills in August 2022 and April this year.
Following a visit by the then-Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, to Taipei last year, China's military launched missile tests over Taiwan, some of which landed within Japan's exclusive economic zone. They also conducted naval exercises around the island, interpreted by Taiwanese officials as preparations for a potential invasion.
Although the April drills were smaller in scale, they involved full-fledged combat exercises featuring China's two aircraft carriers, some conducted off the island's Pacific coast. Taiwanese officials had predicted China's intention to hold military exercises near the island during this week, using Lai's U.S. stopovers as an excuse to intimidate voters ahead of the upcoming presidential election and create a sense of wariness.