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China launches ‘expanded’ military drill as ‘stern warning’ to Taiwan ‘Independence forces’

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(TibetanReview.net, Oct14’24) –China said Oct 14 that its People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Eastern Theatre Command was dispatching troops from its army, navy, air force and rocket force to conduct joint military drills code-named Joint Sword-2024B in the Taiwan Straits and areas to the north, south and east of Taiwan island.  It accused Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te of escalating hostility after his recent comments, including that the People’s Republic of China could not be the island’s motherland.

The drill serves as a stern warning to the separatist acts of “Taiwan Independence” forces, China’s official globaltimes.cn cited Senior Captain Li Xi, spokesperson of the PLA Eastern Theatre Command, as saying in a statement released early Oct 14 morning.

With vessels and aircraft approaching Taiwan island in close proximity from different directions, troops of multiple services engage in joint drills, focusing on subjects of sea-air combat-readiness patrol, blockade on key ports and areas, assault on maritime and ground targets, as well as joint seizure of comprehensive superiority, so as to test the joint operations capabilities of the theatre command’s troops, Li has said.

He has called it a legitimate and necessary operation for safeguarding China’s state sovereignty and national unity.

The scope of “deterrence” in this exercise had expanded, moving closer to the island of Taiwan in comparison to the previous ones, especially with China Coast Guard vessels conducting patrol and control operations around the island, achieving successive new breakthroughs, Zhang Chi, a professor at the PLA National Defence University, has said.

He has said the exercise, with overwhelming force and strategic depth, had significantly squeezed the Taiwan military’s “defence and operational space.”

The report said the PLA’s naval and air forces, along with CCG, were advancing toward the Taiwan island from multiple directions, enforcing a complete blockade of the island.

Chinee military analysts have noted that the Liaoning aircraft carrier, taking part in the drill, had secured a strategic chokepoint, effectively exerting pressure on the “Taiwan independence” secessionists.

Referring to the exercise’s code-name, Zhang has said it is as if a sharp sword is piercing through the Taiwan authorities’ so-called “defence space,” drawing ever nearer to the island, fully showcasing the PLA’s joint operational capabilities across multiple operational domains around Taiwan island.

The report said the PLA’s Joint Sword-2024B exercise sends a clear message: The more aggressively “Taiwan independence” separatists push their agenda, the greater the countermeasure they will face. The Joint Sword-2024A exercises was held from May 23 to 24 after Taiwan’s President Lai’s “separatist” inaugural speech on May 20.

Taiwan’s Ministry of Defence has condemned what it described as “irrational and provocative behaviour” by China, adding it was ready to defend itself.

Taiwan’s transport ministry says air traffic and port operations remain “normal” despite the military drills off the coast, reported bbc.com Oct 14.

Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) dismissed the military exercises as an “open provocation” to peace and the world’s democracies, which prove that China’s 2022 “Global Security Initiative” is nothing but “lies,” reported focustaiwan.tw Oct 14.

Speaking at an international forum on Chinese politics being held in Taipei, National Security Council Secretary-General Joseph Wu said, “we need to stay alert at all times. We will stay moderate and responsible, maintain status quo across the Taiwan Strait,” reported Reuters Oct 14.

“Regarding this morning’s exercise, the president has also convened a high-level national security meeting and issued quite clear instructions on how to respond to China’s military threat and the responses of relevant ministries,” the AFP quoted Joseph Wu as saying.

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