China accused new Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te on Friday of pushing the island towards “war” and threatened to react ever more strongly until “the complete reunification of the homeland”, on the second day of military maneuvers magnitude.
“Since taking office (Monday, Editor’s note), the leader of the Taiwan region has seriously questioned the principle of one China […]which pushes our compatriots in Taiwan into a perilous situation of war and danger,” Wu Qian, a spokesperson for the ministry, said in a statement.
“It’s called playing with fire and those who play with fire will definitely get burned. »
” Every time [le mouvement soutenant l’] “Taiwan independence” will provoke us, we will go a little further with our countermeasures, until the complete reunification of the motherland is achieved,” the spokesperson warned.
These declarations come as Chinese warships and fighter planes surround Taiwan, of which Beijing claims sovereignty, as part of military maneuvers called “Joint Sword-2024A”.
“Since 7:14 a.m. today, 62 aircraft have been detected… of which 47 have crossed the median line” in the Taiwan Strait, the Taiwanese Ministry of Defense said Friday evening in a statement.
This is the largest number of planes observed in 24 hours this year. The ministry also identified 27 Chinese navy and coast guard vessels mobilized for these exercises.
Started Thursday morning in the strait, around Taiwan and near the surrounding islands, these maneuvers involve the army, the navy, the air force and the rocket unit.
They are due to last until Friday inclusive but analysts warn that they could be extended or renewed soon.
The aim is to verify the “capability of seizing power and joint strikes, as well as controlling key territories”, Li Xi, spokesperson for the Chinese army’s Eastern Theater Command, said on Friday.
Beijing presented these military exercises on Thursday as a “severe punishment” against the “separatists” of the island who will end “in blood”, in reaction to the inauguration speech on Monday by Lai Ching-te, perceived by China as a “confession of Taiwan’s independence”.
Do not “resist”
In Pingtan, a Chinese island located in the Taiwan Strait, tourists posed Friday in front of a sign marking “The closest distance between the motherland and the island of Taiwan”, or 126 kilometers.
“We share common roots,” Chen Yan, a 60-year-old woman from Wuhan (center), told AFP. “So I think there will definitely be unification.”
Videos released by the Chinese army on Friday showed soldiers running out of a building to their combat posts and fighter jets taking off to the sound of military music.
According to state television CCTV, Chinese naval officers called on their Taiwanese counterparts not to “resist reunification by force”.
An animated Chinese military graphic shows a hail of missiles raining down on key targets on the island, with a message saying it would “cut the blood vessels of Taiwan’s independence.”
During the day, “numerous groups of fighter planes loaded with live ammunition quickly headed towards the targeted airspace,” state television CCTV reported, referring to “simulated strikes against important targets.”
Four Chinese coast guard vessels entered the “forbidden waters” of two Taiwanese islands in the morning, said the Taiwanese coast guard, which “urged China to exercise restraint and immediately cease its irrational behavior.
Taiwan “will defend the values of freedom and democracy”, assured Mr. Lai on Thursday, promising to stand on “the front line”.
UN appeal
China considers Taiwan to be one of its provinces, which it has not yet succeeded in reunifying with its territory since the end of the civil war and the coming to power of the communists in 1949.
In recent years, it has intensified its threats and political, economic and military pressure on Taiwan.
The UN called on all parties to “refrain from any action that could escalate tensions.”
The People’s Republic of China says it favors “peaceful” reunification with the island territory of 23 million inhabitants, but does not rule out using force.
During his swearing-in on Monday, Lai Ching-te called on China to “stop its political and military intimidation”.
The Taiwanese separatists “will be pilloried of shame for History”, responded the next day the Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs, Wang Yi.
The previous large-scale Chinese military exercises around Taiwan took place in August 2023 after a visit by Mr. Lai, then vice-president, to the United States.
Beijing also launched maneuvers of historic scale in August 2022 after the visit to the island of Nancy Pelosi, then president of the American House of Representatives.