China’s military has said it’s begun joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan.
It said the exercises were intended to “serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence”, and called the self-governed island’s president a “parasite”.
China considers Taiwan to be its own territory and has threatened to use force to gain control.
Its military released a poster entitled “Closing In”, showing Chinese ships and fighter jets circling the island and the words “sinister moves of Taiwan separatists courting disaster upon themselves”.
Image: China released a poster entitled ‘Closing In’. Pic: Eastern Theatre Command
It comes after the Taiwanese president, President Lai Ching-Te, called China a “foreign hostile force” last month.
He announced measures including a proposal to re-instate a military court system in response to a perceived growth in Chinese infiltration of Taiwanese society and “grey-zone” tactics.
Announcing the joint exercises, China’s eastern theatre command depicted the president as a cartoon bug held by a pair of chopsticks above a burning Taiwan.
“Parasite poisoning Taiwan island. Parasite hollowing Island out. Parasite courting ultimate destruction,” the animation said.
Footage also showed the capital Taipei being aimed at from above and military vehicles patrolling the streets.
Image: Chinese aircraft carrier Shandong. Pic: Eastern Theatre Command/Reuters 
Image: Pic: Eastern Theatre Command/Reuters
The eastern theatre command said on its official WeChat social media account: “The focus is on exercises such as combat readiness patrols at sea and in the air, seizing comprehensive control, striking maritime and land targets and imposing blockade controls on key areas and routes.”
Taiwan’s defence ministry said China’s Shandong aircraft carrier group had entered its response area and it had tracked 19 Chinese navy vessels in the waters surrounding the island in a 24-hour period.
It said the group had dispatched military aircraft and ships and activated land-based missile systems in response.
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There is no doubt Beijing is seizing an opportunity here.
The recent hardening of both rhetoric and policy from Taiwan’s president provides an opening for China, not just to practise blockade scenarios and sow feelings of insecurity among Taiwanese, but crucially also to test the resolve of the island’s longstanding backer, the US.
It has been a nervous few months in Taipei as they’ve watched President Trump row back support for Ukraine.
An initial reluctance from the new administration to provide clear condemnation or pushback will have ultimately emboldened Beijing.
However, there have been a few hints in recent days that Washington may ultimately be coming back in behind Taiwan; the hardening of language in a few key statements, a visit by Alaska’s governor and the quiet release of $870m of previously frozen military aid, to name just a few.
Exactly where Trump stands on the Taiwan question is still unclear, he remains a volatile and transactional actor.
It is not impossible, for instance, that Taiwan’s future could be used as a bargaining chip within some future wide-reaching deal with China.
Today’s drills will serve as a test for all involved. Is US resolve indeed hardening, to what extent, and how publicly?
Either way, an intense period of cross-strait relations feels inevitable.
“The Chinese Communist Party has continued to increase its military activities around Taiwan and in the Indo-Pacific
region… and has become the biggest ‘troublemaker’ in the international community,” the statement added.
The drills come two weeks after a large exercise in mid-March, when Beijing sent a large number of drones and ships towards the island.
