China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) conducted a blockade drill around the island of Taiwan on Monday and said the military exercises were a warning against “Taiwan Independence.”
Chinese Defense Ministry spokesman Wu Qian said the drills were a direct response to a speech Taiwanese President William Lai Ching-te delivered this past Thursday. Lai said that Taiwan, officially known as the Republic of China, was not “subordinate” to mainland China, known as the People’s Republic of China.
Wu said that Lai and others were “forgetting their roots and deliberately severing historical ties across the Taiwan Strait” and inciting conflict. “Taiwan has never been a country and will never become one,” Wu said.
The Chinese blockade drills, officially dubbed the Joint Sword-2024B exercises, were carried out to the north, south, and east of Taiwan and in the Taiwan Strait. The Taiwanese Defense Ministry said that throughout Monday, it detected 17 Chinese naval vessels and 17 Chinese Coast Guard vessels around Taiwan.
According to The South China Morning Post, the PLA said Monday evening that it concluded the drills around Taiwan. A PLA spokesman said the military had “fully tested the integrated joint operation capabilities” around Taiwan.
China conducted its first blockade drill around Taiwan in August 2022 in response to then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) making a provocative visit to the island despite major protests from Beijing. In April 2023, then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy met with Taiwan’s former president, Tsai Ing-wen, in California, provoking another Chinese blockade drill.
In his statement on the drills, Wu issued a warning against outside interference, referring to the US’s increasing support for Taiwan. “Relevant parties should cease supporting ‘Taiwan independence’ and stop undermining peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait,” Wu said.
China has been warning the US strongly against its ever-growing military and diplomatic support for Taiwan, calling it the “first red line” in US-China relations that must not be crossed. But the Biden administration is ignoring the concerns and recently approved a $567 million arms package for Taiwan.
