China holds military drills around Taiwan as warning to ‘separatist forces’

Taiwan’s presidential office has criticised the upcoming Chinese drills, calling them a challenge to international norms.

Its defence ministry said it had detected 89 Chinese military aircraft and 28 warships and coastguard vessels near Taiwan on Monday.

The ministry said separately it had deployed its own missile systems and forces to monitor the situation, adding they are on “high alert” to defend Taiwan and “protect our people”.

In a post on Weibo, the Chinese military’s Eastern Theater Command – in charge of the Taiwan Strait – described the upcoming military exercise as a “shield of justice”.

“All those plotting independence will be annihilated upon encountering the shield!” the post read.

While some initial drills have begun, the military said it would conduct a major exercise from 08:00 to 18:00 local time on Tuesday.

Beijing’s foreign ministry called the drills a “severe punishment for separatist forces seeking independence through force” and warned “external forces” against “using Taiwan to contain China”.

“Any sinister schemes to obstruct China’s reunification are doomed to fail,” the ministry’s spokesman Lin Jian said at a regular press briefing on Monday.

While China has long called for the “peaceful reunification” with Taiwan, it also has a law stating it will resort to “non-peaceful means” to prevent the island’s “secession”.

Beijing has accused Taiwan’s president Lai Ching-te of pursuing “Taiwan independence”. The president maintains Taiwan is already a sovereign nation and therefore has no need to formally declare independence.

On Sunday, Lai said in a local television interview that Taiwan needed to “keep raising the difficulty so [China] can never meet the standard” for an invasion.

He also said that his administration was committed to “maintaining the status quo” and would not provoke China – though he added that peace relies on “real strength”.

Polls consistently show that most Taiwanese people want the “status quo”, meaning they neither want to unify with China, nor to formally declare independence.