Military vessels and planes surrounded Taiwan from all sides as the People's Republic of China (PRC) launched "Exercise Joint Sword" on Thursday to conduct People's Liberation Army (PLA) exercises in President Xi Jinping's escalating harassment of the Republic of China (ROC).
The latest attempt at intimidating Taiwan is a "punishment," according to the PRC, for the ROC's inauguration of a new president earlier this week, something Beijing views as a "separatist act."
The drills, some of which involve live fire, are being carried out in the Taiwan Strait, off the island's north, south, and east coasts, and in the vicinity of smaller islands around Taiwan. The joint sea-and-air exercises include warships and military aircraft and are intended by President Xi and the Chinese Communist Party to escalate its threats against the ROC's independence and wave off help from Taiwan's friends and partners.
A good infographic from @detresfa_ & @PLATracker highlights #China's military activity around #Taiwan during the 'Joint Sword-2024A' exercise today.
— Indo-Pacific News - Geo-Politics & Defense (@IndoPac_Info) May 23, 2024
The drills focused on joint sea-air combat-readiness, precisions strikes & battlefield control around the island. pic.twitter.com/RChKDaVjSP
On May 20, the Republic of China inaugurated its new president — Lai Ching-te — a peaceful transition of power from former President Tsai Ing-wen that demonstrated the vibrant, liberalized democracy that exists in Taiwan, a stark contrast with the CCP's stranglehold in the PRC.
The PLA surrounding of Taiwan comes after Xi's military carried out the largest-ever incursion into Taiwan's Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) last week ahead of President Lai's inauguration.
The current PLA exercises (read: unprovoked harassment) are slated to run May 23-24 and focus on "joint sea-air combat-readiness patrols, joint seizure of comprehensive battlefield control, and joint precision strikes on key targets," according to the Chinese military.
Essentially, it's training for an invasion of Taiwan that would come as part of Xi's "reunification," a nice-sounding word that would involve destroying the ROC's freedom by force in a full-blown military operation against Taiwan.
The ROC's government anticipated the PRC's drills and where they would take place, according to reports. Taiwan's Ministry of Defense called China's latest escalation an "irrational provocation" being carried out "under false pretenses."
Taiwan mobilized its military and said it was confident it could protect the island. That’s after China the same morning started two days of what its military called ‘punishment’ drills around Taiwanhttps://t.co/JPTfkUlvRV pic.twitter.com/WYWTn8qftq
— Reuters (@Reuters) May 23, 2024
Sources at U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said that China's joint exercises are similar to those previously carried out by the PLA and despite President Xi's order for his military to ready itself for an invasion by 2027 and recent reports that an invasion could come as early as June, "an actual attack was not inevitable or imminent."
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