The Joint Sword-2024A exercise involves military aircraft and naval ships surrounding the island on Thursday and Friday, Chinese media reported.
The Chinese military on Thursday began large-scale military exercises around Taiwan, three days after new President Lai Ching-te took office.
China’s defence ministry said on its website:
The drills are being conducted in the Taiwan Strait, the north, south and east of Taiwan Island, as well as areas around the islands of Kinmen, Matsu, Wuqiu, and Dongyin.
The Joint Sword-2024A exercise brings together several armed forces under the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Eastern Theatre Command and will last until Friday.
Li Xi’s spokesman said the army, navy, air force and missile forces of the theatre command have joined the Joint Sword-2024A exercise.
China, which considers Taiwan a breakaway province, often conducts military exercises in response to major political developments on the island. The scale of the exercises invariably depends on the significance of the event.
In August 2022, after US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taipei, the PLA held a week of joint exercises around Taiwan, including live-fire drills as well as anti-submarine attacks and air drills. Pelosi became the highest-ranking US official to visit Taiwan in the past 25 years.
The PLA’s Eastern Theatre of Operations Command published a map on microblogging site Weibo showing the exercise locations, which is similar to the August 2022 exercise but with the addition of areas near Taiwan’s outer islands.
An eyewitness from the Kinmen Islands told Radio Free Asia that two groups of Chinese ships have been spotted near the islands since Thursday morning.
Military drill tasks
Spokesman Li said the Joint Sword-2024A programme aims to jointly patrol the sea and air combat zone, jointly seize comprehensive battlefield control and launch joint precision strikes.
Chinese warships and aircraft will conduct patrols and integrated operations inside and outside the island chain “to test the joint real-world combat capabilities of the command forces,” he said.
Military analyst Ben Lewis believes this means the PLA will send aircraft further east. He told local media:
I think it is likely they will operate in West Pacific, based on the exercise zones and stated objectives of the drill.
In a press statement, Taiwan’s defence ministry condemned the exercise and “deplored such irrational provocations and actions that undermine regional peace and stability”.
The ministry said it had mobilised joint intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance systems, as well as air defence and ground-based missile forces to monitor the situation in order to respond to emergencies.
