China announces end to military maneuvers around Taiwan

After more than 48 hours of show of force, the Chinese enterprise has come to an end. China announced this Friday the end of large-scale military maneuvers it has been conducting since Thursday around the island of Taiwan to demonstrate its opposition to what it sees as separatist rhetoric from Taiwan’s new president, Lai Ching-te.

The Chinese army has “successfully completed” an exercise called Joint Sword 2024A against Taiwan, a military news anchor at Chinese state television’s CCTV-7 said Friday evening.

Simulate a blockade of an island

The Army’s Eastern Theater announced Thursday the start of the maneuvers, which will last through Friday. He did not explicitly confirm that they had been completed. On Friday evening, the Chinese army released a video showing missile trucks ready to launch, officers on warships watching Taiwanese boats through binoculars and soldiers in uniform declaring their loyalty to the Communist Party.

The exercise, designed in part to simulate a blockade of the island, involved the Army, Navy, Air Force and a missile division (responsible for strategic missiles). They mainly occurred in the Taiwan Strait, in the north, south and east of the territory. In Taiwan, presidential spokeswoman Karen Guo condemned the maneuvers on Saturday, which she said were “gravely concerning” and a “blatant provocation against international order.”

Inauguration speech disputed by China

China considers Taiwan one of its provinces, which it has so far failed to reunite with its territory since the end of the Chinese Civil War and the communist takeover of power on the continent in 1949. Beijing calls for a “peaceful” reunification with the territory of 23 million people governed by a democratic system, but does not rule out the use of force if the island moves towards independence.

China was thus offended by Lai Ching-te’s inaugural address on Monday. Taiwan: Lai Ching-te, the son of a miner, who took office as president of the islands, specifically pointed out that “The Republic of China (Taiwan) and the People’s Republic of China (mainland China led by the Communist Party) are not subordinate to each other. Beijing considers the comments separatist.