Pentagon, State Department voice concerns over Chinese military drills near Taiwan

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The Biden administration expressed rising concern that large-scale Chinese military exercises surrounding Taiwan over the weekend are increasing the danger of war.

The exercises encircled the self-ruled island with naval and air forces as well as several Taiwan-controlled outlying islands near the Chinese coast, according to a statement by the military command in charge of forces near Taiwan. Among the warships involved was China’s aircraft carrier Liaoning, which was detected sailing on the eastern side of the island.

“The United States is seriously concerned by the People’s Liberation Army joint military drills in the Taiwan Strait and around Taiwan,” said State Department spokesman Matthew Miller. China’s “response with military provocations to a routine annual speech is unwarranted and risks escalation,” he said in a statement issued late Sunday.

The Pentagon on Monday also condemned the drills, noting that U.S. military forces had closely monitored the exercises.

“This military pressure operation is irresponsible, disproportionate and destabilizing, “said spokesman Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, adding that “deterrence remains strong in the Indo-Pacific, and the department remains confident in its current force posture and operations in the region.”

The Chinese military said the war games, code-named Joint Sword 2024B, took place as a “stern warning to the separatist acts of Taiwan independence forces.” They were held just days after new Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te gave a National Day address in Taipei vowing to resist a forcible takeover bid by Beijing.

In addition to fighter jets, H-6K nuclear-capable bombers also took part, according to Chinese state media. The aircraft conducted “coordinated multi-route encirclement,” including flights through the Bashi Channel at the southern end of Taiwan toward “distant seas,” CCTV state television reported.

People’s Liberation Army Sr. Capt. Li Xi, a spokesman for Eastern Theater Command, said the exercises ended Monday.

Taiwan’s Defense Ministry condemned the drills, which reportedly included dozens of military aircraft and multiple incursions in Taiwan’s air identification defense zone, as “irrational and provocative.”

The Biden administration, in its statement, called on the Chinese military to “act with restraint” and avoid actions that could undermine peace and stability.

China’s Capt. Li said vessels and aircraft approached Taiwan in close proximity from multiple directions. Troops from several services also took part. The military operations are “stern deterrence to the separatist acts of Taiwan independence forces. It is a legitimate and necessary operation to safeguard state sovereignty and integrity,” Capt. Li said.

The war games were not a surprise and had been widely expected following Mr. Lai’s Oct. 10 address vowing to fight any military move to take over the island democracy. The president who took office in May said during National Day remarks that he will uphold the commitment to “resist annexation or encroachment upon our sovereignty.”

China’s President Xi Jinping has vowed to take over the island as part of a strategy of national rejuvenation.

Mr. Lai said Monday that the exercises were an attempt by China to undermine regional stability and the fragile status quo between Taiwan and the mainland. “While Taiwan remains open to cross-strait dialogue and exchanges, we are determined to protect our free and democratic constitutional system,” he said in a statement.

The use of coast guard vessels is part of Chinese strategy of “legal warfare” that defense analysts say is part of an effort to give a veneer of enforcing a maritime exclusion zone around Taiwan.

A Chinese Defense Ministry spokesman, Sr. Col. Wu Qian, said the exercises were not directed at the people of Taiwan: “We are willing, with utmost sincerity and effort, to strive for peaceful reunification. However, we do not promise to renounce the use of force, and we will not leave even the slightest space for Taiwan independence.”

Fu Zhengnan, an official the PLA Academy of Military Sciences, stated on a CCTV social media account, Yuyuan Tantian, that the drill “could turn to war at any time,” the South China Morning Post reported.

The Chinese Communist Party-affiliated Global Times outlet stated that the latest drills were held closer to Taiwan territory than in the past. The exercises demonstrated “overwhelming force and strategic depth, [that] has significantly squeezed the Taiwan military’s defense and operational space,” the news website stated.

“It is as if a sharp sword is piercing through the Taiwan authorities’ so-called ’defense space,’ drawing ever nearer to the island, fully showcasing the PLA’s joint operational capabilities across multiple operational domains around Taiwan island,” it said.

During the war games, PLA forces conducted simulated blockades of northern and southern ports that are used as main supply routes for natural gas imports. As in an earlier version of Joint Sword, simulated missile strikes were used in Monday’s exercises, and PLA Rocket Force units were moved to operational areas and conducted simulated attacks, CCTV said.

China conducted Joint Sword 2024A in May using mock missile attacks and joint military operations. U.S. military commanders have said Mr. Xi has ordered the PLA to be prepared for military action against Taiwan in the next five years.

“This is a resolute punishment for Lai Ching-te’s continuous fabrication of ’Taiwan independence’ nonsense,” China’s Taiwan Affairs Office said in a statement.