These exercises came in response to the Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen’s meeting with US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy last week, which China warned would provoke its response.
After two days of exercises, simulating targeted strikes on Taiwan and encircling the island, the Chinese military said the wargames also featured “sealing” Taiwan off.
One of China’s two aircraft carriers also “participated in today’s exercise,” the military said.
While the US had repeatedly called for China to show restraint, on Monday, it sent its guided-missile destroyer, the USS Milius, through contested parts of the South China Sea.
The deployment immediately provoked China, which said the vessel had “illegally intruded” into its territorial waters. The United States, however, maintained that the move was meant to uphold the rights, freedoms, and lawful uses of the sea.
Meanwhile, the exercises set to include live-fire drills off the rocky coast of China’s Fujian province, about 80 kilometres south of the Matsu islands and 190 kilometres from Taipei, raised concerns about a potential escalation of tensions in the region. While many Taiwanese citizens expressed fears about the risk of war, Lin Ke-qiang, a 60-year-old chef in Taiwan’s Matsu archipelago, said: “We, common people, just want to live peaceful and stable lives… If any war happens, now that their missiles are so advanced, there’s no way our side could resist. This side will be leveled to the ground.”
The Taiwan and China split in 1949 at the end of a civil war. China considers democratic Taiwan as part of its territory and has vowed to take it one day, setting in motion a complicated power play in the region. The US has been ambiguous about whether it will defend Taiwan militarily. However, it has sold arms to Taiwan and provided it with political support to help ensure its self-defence.
Though McCarthy’s meeting with the Taiwan President outside Los Angeles was seen as a compromise to underscore support for Taiwan without inflaming tensions with Beijing, China’s repeated warnings against any meeting have led to rapid escalation in the region.
