On Thursday last week, China conducted large-scale military drills around Taiwan, jeopardizing peace and stability in the region. The air and maritime drills, formally named “Joint Sword-2024A,” came three days after President William Lai (賴清德) was sworn in.
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) intentions behind these exercises are clear: to intimidate Taiwan and consolidate its geopolitical influence in the western Pacific.
The drills are also designed to send a message to key players in the region — namely the US and Japan — about China’s “inviolable sovereignty” and to discourage other countries from meddling in China’s “internal affairs.” The drills, and the potential dangers that accompany them, can be further analyzed from several perspectives.
First, the sheer scale of the exercises — involving multiple branches of the military from the Eastern Theater Command — emphasizes China’s determination to intimidate Taiwan militarily and warn Taiwanese independence forces against challenging the CCP’s “bottom line.”
The CCP seems to be adopting a “kill two birds with one stone” strategy: Beyond the obvious goal of tightening its grip on the Taiwan Strait, the CCP was using the opportunity to show off its strength and exert pressure on the US and Japan. This strategy might heighten the risk of conflict.
Second, the drills are a direct move to counter Taiwan’s pro-independence forces and joint combat exercises, highlighting an increased aggressiveness in the CCP’s stance toward Taiwan. China’s warning extends to all “outside forces,” and is a direct provocation to the US and Japan.
The CCP aims to assert its strategic influence in the region and challenge the US and Japan’s dominance in the western Pacific, a move likely to intensify regional geopolitical rivalries and increase the risk of military confrontation.
Thirdly, the pent-up tension in the region could create a vicious cycle further prompting the CCP to push for military action. If more drills such as “Joint Sword-2024B or C” were to be carried out, this would make the situation in the Taiwan Strait go from bad to worse.
Other countries in the region might feel compelled to affect their military expenditure in response. Rising military costs would not only impact economic and social development, but could also make conflict more likely, endangering global peace and stability.
The military drills put China’s ambition and wider intentions in plain view. By seeking to exert its influence on the regional landscape, China is turning the area into a geopolitical battleground.
In confronting the CCP military threat, nations should remain alert and bolster cooperation and coordination on security and defense matters. The international community should condemn the CCP’s military provocations and apply diplomatic and economic pressure to encourage a change in its attitude toward Taiwan. Rational dialogue and peaceful solutions are essential to reduce the risk of conflict, safeguard peace and promote development.
Chen Chun is an international affairs researcher.
Translated by Gabrielle Killick
China has successfully held its Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, with 53 of 55 countries from the African Union (AU) participating. The two countries that did not participate were Eswatini and the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, which have no diplomatic relations with China. Twenty-four leaders were reported to have participated. Despite African countries complaining about summit fatigue, with recent summits held with Russia, Italy, South Korea, the US and Indonesia, as well as Japan next month, they still turned up in large numbers in Beijing. China’s ability to attract most of the African leaders to a summit demonstrates that it is still being
Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) on Thursday was handcuffed and escorted by police to the Taipei Detention Center, after the Taipei District Court ordered that he be detained and held incommunicado for suspected corruption during his tenure as Taipei mayor. The ruling reversed an earlier decision by the same court on Monday last week that ordered Ko’s release without bail. That decision was appealed by prosecutors on Wednesday, leading the High Court to conclude that Ko had been “actively involved” in the alleged corruption and it ordered the district court to hold a second detention hearing. Video clips
The Russian city of Vladivostok lies approximately 45km from the Sino-Russian border on the Sea of Japan. The area was not always Russian territory: It was once the site of a Chinese settlement. The settlement would later be known as Yongmingcheng (永明城), the “city of eternal light,” during the Yuan Dynasty. That light was extinguished in 1858 when a large area of land was ceded by the Qing Dynasty to the Russian Empire with the signing of the Treaty of Aigun. The People’s Republic of China founded by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has never ruled Taiwan. Taiwan was governed by the
The Japanese-language Nikkei Shimbun on Friday published a full-page story calling for Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party’s (LDP) leadership hopefuls to be aware of and to prepare for a potential crisis in the Taiwan Strait. The candidates of the LDP leadership race must have a “vision” in case of a Chinese invasion in Taiwan, the article said, adding that whether the prospective president of the LDP and the future prime minister of Japan have the ability to lead the public and private sectors under this circumstance would be examined in the coming election. The “2027 Theory” of a Taiwan contingency is becoming increasingly
RSS