The Chinese army continued war exercises for the second day around Taiwan Including exercises to test the ability to seize power and control key areas, exercises she said Beijing It was launched to punish the president of Taiwan Lai Ching T.
Reuters reported that the two-day exercises began in… Taiwan Strait And around groups of islands controlled by Taiwan near the Chinese coast just three days after Lai took office.
The Chinese Operations Command showed a video clip of a computer simulation with animation on its account on the WeChat social networking platform, showing missiles being launched towards Taiwan from land, air and sea, then landing on cities. Taipei Kaohsiung and Hualien with balls of flame, and at the end of the clip the words “sacred weapons to kill separatism” were written.
A Taiwanese official said that the exercises included a simulation of bombing foreign ships, and Taiwan condemned China’s actions.
China considers Taiwan part of its territory and describes Lai as a separatist. Beijing criticized the speech he gave at his inauguration on Monday in which he urged it to stop its threats and said that the two sides of the Strait do not follow each other.
The Eastern Command of the People’s Liberation Army said in a brief statement that its forces continued their training on Friday, adding that the training aims to test the ability to jointly seize power, launch joint attacks, and occupy key areas.
A senior Taiwanese security official told Reuters that several Chinese bombers carried out simulated attacks on foreign ships near the eastern end of the canal. Go aheadwhich separates Taiwan from the Philippines, and carried out training on how to impose “full control” on areas to the west of the first island chain.
The first chain of islands refers to the area extending from… Japan Passing through Taiwan, the Philippines, and Borneo to the coast of China.
The official said that several Chinese Coast Guard boats also conducted training exercises for what he described as “harassment” operations off the eastern coast of Taiwan, which included mock inspections of civilian ships.
The Chinese Coast Guard said in a brief statement that it conducted “law enforcement exercises” in the waters east of Taiwan on Friday, focusing on methods of verification, identification, warning and removal.
The Taiwanese Armed Forces mobilized their forces to monitor and track the movements of Chinese forces, and the Taiwanese Ministry of Defense on Friday published pictures of F-16 aircraft armed with missiles and conducting air patrols.
It also showed pictures of Chinese Coast Guard ships participating in the exercises and Chinese Jian Gadao-class corvettes, but did not specify the exact location where the pictures were taken.
The ministry said it had detected 49 Chinese military aircraft, 19 naval vessels and seven coast guard vessels as of 6 a.m. local time, and 28 aircraft had crossed the dividing line that divides the Taiwan Strait and forms an unofficial border, but China says it does not recognize it.
Lai has repeatedly offered to hold talks with China, but it has refused. He says that only the people of Taiwan can decide their future, and rejects Beijing’s claims to sovereignty over the island.
Analysts, diplomats in the region and senior officials in Taiwan say that the scope of the ongoing Chinese military exercises is so far smaller than similar exercises in 2022, and that they are also expected, but they still pose a risk of accidents or miscalculation.
They added that Beijing is sending a carefully worded warning that Chinese forces are capable of subjugating Lai if they want.