Chinese PLA warns Taiwan separatists with military drills

The Eastern Theater Command of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) conducted the Joint Sword-2024B military drills in the waters around the Taiwan island early Monday.

According Li Xi, spokesperson for the theater command, it organized its troops of army, navy, air force and rocket force to carry out the military exercises which involved vessels and planes closing in on the island from multiple directions.

On the same day, the China Coast Guard (CCG) said that its four CCG fleets carried out law-enforcement patrols in the waters around the Taiwan island. A CCG spokesperson stated that it's a practical action to lawfully enforce control over Taiwan in accordance with the one-China principle.

Monday's military drills and patrols are the Chinese mainland's responses to Taiwan regional leader Lai Ching-te's speech on October 10. Fu Zhengnan, a military expert from the PLA Academy of Military Science, said that the drills are a strong expression of the national will to punish "Taiwan independence" forces and promote unification.

"If the Joint Sword-2024A exercise conveys the message that the PLA will not tolerate radical 'Taiwan independence' actions, then today's exercises signal that deceptive and gradual approaches to 'Taiwan independence' will also not be allowed," Fu said.

He said that a notable feature of this operation is its "all-weather" capability, which creates a heightened atmosphere of real combat. The joint task force initiated military deterrence actions in the early morning, seamlessly transitioning from troop mobilization to pressure tactics. "This readiness allows for a rapid shift from training to combat, resembling 'a sword poised overhead or a hammer ready to strike'," the military expert said.

He said that the drills aim to warn the Lai administration that pursuing "Taiwan independence" is a dead end and that if "Taiwan independence" provocateurs make a move, the PLA will also escalate its military operations.

Lai, a 'pragmatic war instigator'

In Lai's speech, he claimed that the People's Republic of China has no right to represent Taiwan and that they are "not subordinate to each other."

Experts said that Lai's "two states" theory revealed his risky intention to recklessly go further down the path of seeking "Taiwan independence," and that he has become a "pragmatic war instigator." Lai has been proclaiming himself as a "pragmatic Taiwan independence worker."

A commentary by the China Media Group (CMG) explained that after Lai took office, he has continuously promoted the separatist fallacy of "Taiwan independence." 

For example, since the Democratic Progressive Party came to power, Taiwan's defense budget has steadily increased. In 2024, the defense budget reach a new high of 647 billion new Taiwan dollars (about $20 billion), nearly doubling from eight years ago. Lai also established a so-called defense committee, aiming to train 400,000 civilian forces across the island, according to the CMG estimation.

Wang Yingjin, director of the Center for Cross-Straits Relations Studies, said at a cross-Straits relations seminar on Sunday that Lai's speech is highly deceptive and misleading as he reduced provocative language, causing many in the international community to mistakenly perceive it as a "softening signal" toward the Chinese mainland. But the essence of promoting "Taiwan independence" and instigating confrontation across the Taiwan Straits has remained unchanged, Wang added.

The State Council Taiwan Affairs Office previously responded to Lai's October 10 speech by saying Lai's new "two states" theory deliberately heightened cross-Straits tensions and gravely undermined peace and stability.

Chen Binhua, a spokesperson for the office, stressed that nothing Lai has said can change Taiwan's legal status as a part of China or the fact that both sides of the Taiwan Straits belong to one China.