China has been staging large-scale joint war games featuring mock beach landings, helicopter assaults and tank battles along its east coast facing Taiwan, just days before the inauguration of president-elect Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文).
The Chinese Ministry of National Defense yesterday said that the air, land and sea drills are aimed at “testing and upgrading the ability to respond to security threats and complete military missions.”
The drills are “not aimed at any specific target and relevant persons shouldn’t read too much into it,” the ministry said.
The statement, issued in a question-and-answer format, did not mention Taiwan.
The military drills are a sign of the sort of disruptions and threats that would descend upon the cross-strait relationship if Tsai defies Beijing’s demands over the “one China principle,” Xiamen University Taiwan Research Institute deputy director Li Fei (李非) said.
“The exercises are a message to the Taiwan independence forces and can be regarded as a warning that any indications of a movement toward independence will meet with repression,” Li said.
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) administration of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has endorsed the so-called “1992 consensus” — which refers to a tacit understanding between the KMT and the Chinese government that both sides of the Taiwan Strait acknowledge there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what “China” means — and signed a series of agreements with China during its eight years in power.
Tsai has said she wants such contacts to continue uninterrupted, but has declined to voice her support for the consensus.
While military action is considered extremely risky, Beijing could choose to retaliate against Tsai by further limiting the nation’s participation in international organizations, luring away its remaining diplomatic allies, and curtailing trade and tourist exchanges.
China last staged military drills and missile launches in 1995 and 1996 in a bid to intimidate Taiwanese voters ahead of the first direct presidential elections. The effort was seen as an abject failure that further alienated Taiwanese.
Chinese media said the latest drills involved mock landing operations, and the use of attack helicopters and tanks. The largest drills were carried out by the People’s Liberation Army’s 31st Group Army in Xiamen, the China Daily said.
The 31st Group Army also held live-firing exercises in January, days after Tsai’s election.
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