“DEFEND FREEDOM”
China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has vowed to bring the democratic island under its rule, by force if necessary.
Thursday and Friday’s drills involve aircraft and ships surrounding the island to test their combat capabilities, China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) said.
Taiwan responded on Thursday by deploying air, ground and sea forces, with the island’s defence ministry vowing to “defend freedom”.
President Lai said he would “stand on the front line” to defend Taiwan in a speech on Thursday afternoon, without directly referring to the ongoing drills.
“Faced with external challenges and threats, we will continue to defend the values of freedom and democracy, and safeguard peace and stability in the region,” he said.
China has repeatedly branded Lai a “dangerous separatist” who would bring “war and decline” to the island.
Beijing was further incensed with his inauguration speech on Monday in which he hailed a “glorious” era for Taiwan’s democracy.
The drills, which began on Thursday morning, are taking place in the Taiwan Strait and to the north, south and east of the island, as well as areas around the Taipei-administered islands of Kinmen, Matsu, Wuqiu and Dongyin.
China’s military put out a series of posters touting what it called its “cross-strait lethality”. They featured rockets, jets and naval vessels next to the blood-stained text.
“The weapon aimed at ‘Taiwan independence’ to kill ‘independence’ is already in place,” it declared.
As of around 8pm on Thursday, Taipei’s defence ministry said 49 jets and planes had been detected since the drills began at 7.20am. Thirty-five of the aircraft had crossed the median line bisecting the Taiwan Strait.
