China begins military maneuvers around Taiwan to “punish” William Lai’s words about its independence

Taiwan condemns ‘provocative behavior’, deploys military in response

May 23. (EUROPA PRESS) –

This Thursday morning, the Chinese Army began a series of land, naval and air military exercises around the island of Taiwan, which will last until Friday, as a form of “punishment” against the newly elected Taiwanese president, William Lai, who He urged Beijing to “face the existence” of the island as a completely independent entity.

“The Chinese People’s Liberation Army has organized the Armed Forces, Navy, Air Force, rocket units and other theater units to carry out the ‘Joint Sword-2024A’ exercise around the island of Taiwan, focusing on issues such as joint naval and air combat readiness patrols, joint takeover of comprehensive control of the battlefield and joint strikes against key targets,” said Eastern Command spokesman Colonel Li Xi.

In addition, he added that these maneuvers represent “a strong punishment to the Taiwanese separatist forces seeking independence”, as well as “a serious warning against interference and provocations by external forces”, according to a statement published on the Eastern Command website. .

Chinese forces will be present in the Taiwan Strait, as well as in the north, south and east of the territory and on the islands of Kinmen, Matsu, Wuqiu and Dongyin.

The Taiwanese Ministry of Defense, for its part, has condemned China’s “provocative behavior” for “damaging regional stability” and has announced the deployment of its air, naval and land forces in response to these exercises, according to the network. of Taiwan public broadcasting, BCC.

The same ministerial portfolio has published on its X social network account that it has already detected a dozen warships and a fighter jet around the island.

These actions come after Taiwan’s elected president, William Lai, formally took office on Monday and urged China to “cooperate” with the Taiwanese executive in order to preserve the island’s status as a completely independent entity from China.

From Beijing, the Chinese authorities have reiterated on numerous occasions that Taiwan’s independence will not be tolerated and that they will not rule out the use of force to prevent secession. Ties between China and the island of Taiwan, which it considers another province under its sovereignty, were severed in 1949, after the forces of the nationalist Kuomintang party suffered defeat in the civil war against the Communist Party and moved to the archipelago. Relations were reestablished only at a business and informal level in the late 1980s.