The Chinese hold military exercises near Taiwan after the inauguration of the new president

Lina PortmanMay 25, 2024

0 5 minutes read

The Chinese army or People's Liberation Army (PLA) conducted two days of military exercises in the Taiwan Strait, notably near the Taiwanese-controlled islands of Kinmen, Matsu, Wuqiu and Dongyin, located a few kilometers off the mainland Chinese.

Taiwanese guided-missile destroyer Ma Kong DDG1805 monitors Chinese destroyer Xi'an DDG15 near Taiwan, May 23, 2024. [AP Photo/Taiwan Ministry of National Defense]

The military exercises take place just days after the inauguration of Lai Ching-te of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) as Taiwan's new president. Lai is known for his stance in favor of Taiwan independence. China has repeatedly warned that it will respond to any official declaration of independence with force by reinstating the island into China.

China's Xinhua news agency reported that the exercises were the largest in more than a year and were intended to “serve as severe punishment for the separatist acts of Taiwan Independence Forces and a stern warning against interference and provocation by external forces.

PLA spokesperson Li Xi told the news agency that the “Joint Sword-2024A” exercises focused on “air-sea combat readiness patrol, jointly taking full control of the battlefield and joint precision strikes on new targets.

The exercises were accompanied by nationalist rhetoric on the part of Beijing, further amplified in the Western press, but the exercises were of a smaller scale than those organized in 2022 and 2023. According to the Taiwanese army, Beijing does not declared no no-fly zone. and no live firing took place except in military zones on the Chinese mainland.

U.S. and international media outlets featured maps showing the Chinese military “encircling” Taiwan and comments from China's Defense Ministry stating that the PLA was testing its ability to “seize power.” In reality, the exercises were largely limited to the Taiwan Strait between the Chinese mainland and Taiwan, with some Chinese coast guard ships staging simulated inspections of civilian vessels east of Taiwan.

On Thursday, Taiwan's military detected 35 PLA navy and coast guard ships and 49 aircraft, and on Friday, 27 PLA navy ships and 62 PLA aircraft. Some planes crossed the midline of the Taiwan Strait — considered by the United States to be international waters and airspace — but none entered what Taiwan considers its immediate territorial waters and airspace.

Chinese Defense Ministry spokesperson Wu Qian said Taiwan's new president had “seriously challenged the one-China principle… pushing our Taiwan compatriots into a perilous situation of war and danger “. He warned of “countermeasures” in response to Taipei’s new provocations.

At his inauguration on Monday, Lai, who represents the DPP's hardest separatist wing, did not hint at any formal declaration of independence. During the election campaign, well aware of widespread popular fears of war with China, Lai followed the more moderate line of his predecessor Tsai Ing-wen, according to which Taiwan is already a sovereign country and has not need to declare independence.

Nevertheless, Lai's speech, full of praise for “peace” and “democracy”, was highly provocative. After declaring that Taiwan and China were “not subordinate to each other,” he said, “All people in Taiwan must unite to safeguard our nation; all of our political parties should oppose annexation and protect sovereignty; and no one should consider giving up our national sovereignty in exchange for political power.

This statement is not only a complete rejection of the “one China policy” that underpins international relations with China. It is also a threat directed against the opposition Kuomintang (KMT) and any other party seeking to improve relations with Beijing or willing to enter into negotiations for its peaceful reunification with China.

After the Chinese Revolution of 1949, the hated KMT regime retreated to Taiwan under the protection of the U.S. Navy and established a brutal military dictatorship. Taipei and Beijing claimed to be the legitimate government of “One China,” while a layer of indigenous Taiwanese elites now represented by the DPP pushed for “independence” of the island.

Although the junta has been formally dissolved and the facade of democracy has been erected, much of the old undemocratic state apparatus remains intact, with power heavily concentrated in the hands of the president. Far from receiving overwhelming popular support, Lai won the January election with just 40 percent of the vote, ahead of candidates from the KMT with 33.5 percent and the Taiwan People's Party (TPP) with 26.5 percent. . Under Taiwan's electoral system, there was no runoff, which Lai likely would have lost.

The DPP also lost control of Taiwan's Legislative Yuan or Parliament. This plunges the island into a political crisis as the KMT, with the support of the TPP, enacts legislation aimed at subjecting the president and his administration to greater parliamentary scrutiny. KMT/TPP lawmakers pushed through laws Friday to ensure cooperation from administration officials and expand parliamentary investigative powers, including access to classified military information, while tens of thousands of KMT/TPP supporters DPP demonstrated in the streets.

Justifying the new legislation, Wu Tsung-hsien, head of the KMT's judicial committee, asked rhetorically: “In which country in the world is the executive branch not supervised by anyone?” Of course, he did not point out that the KMT established the current presidential system after dismantling its dictatorship, confident that the presidency would still be in its hands.

Echoing Lai's comment that all Taiwanese must unite to protect “the nation,” DPP lawmaker Kuo Po-wen disputed any disclosure of military documents and effectively called the KMT a traitor. “Would you like to get some information that you can then bring as a gift on your next visit to China?”

The growing tensions across the Taiwan Strait, which are precipitating political unrest in Taipei, are being deliberately stoked by US imperialism. Washington adopted the One-China policy in the 1970s and effectively recognized Beijing as the legitimate government of all China, including Taiwan, when it established diplomatic ties with Beijing and severed all formal relations with Taipei.

Now Biden, following Trump, has all but abandoned the One-China policy – tearing up long-standing diplomatic protocols, increasing arms sales to Taiwan, sending military “advisers” to the island and leading naval provocations across the Taiwan Strait – as his administration prepares for war. with China.

Biden administration condemns Chinese “aggression” and “expansionism” toward Taiwan and in the East China and South China Seas, i.e. military exercises in nearby waters and airspace of the Chinese continent which he considers his own. Yet the US military regularly conducts naval operations thousands of miles from its nearest territory.

While Chinese military exercises were taking place on Thursday and Friday, the nuclear aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan and its associated battle group were conducting “routine” operations near Taiwan in the Philippine Sea. The U.S. Navy and Royal Netherlands Navy conducted joint operations in the South China Sea on Wednesday – the latest in an intensification of joint military exercises in the Western Pacific involving NATO's European allies.

Even as it wages war against Russia in Ukraine as part of the NATO alliance and supports the Israeli genocide in Gaza as part of a broader conflict against Iran in the Middle East, American imperialism views China as the main threat to its global domination. Already engaged in an economic war against Beijing, Washington will use all means, including military, to weaken and subordinate China, despite the dangers of nuclear war.