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Fu Gan / Chinese People’s Liberation Army© The Western Journal
By Bernard Orr and Yimou Lee
BEIJING/TAIPEI, May 23 (Reuters) – A furious China launched “punishment” drills around Taiwan on Thursday in what it said was a response to “separatist acts”, sending up heavily armed warplanes and staging mock attacks as state media denounced newly inaugurated President Lai Ching-te.
The exercises, in the Taiwan Strait and around groups of Taiwan-controlled islands beside the Chinese coast, come just three days after Lai took office, a man Beijing detests as a “separatist”.
China, which views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory, denounced Lai’s inauguration speech on Monday, in which he urged it to stop its threats, saying the two sides of the strait were “not subordinate to each other”.
On Tuesday, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi called Lai “disgraceful“.
Lai has repeatedly offered talks with China but has been rebuffed. He says only Taiwan’s people can decide their future, and rejects Beijing’s sovereignty claims.
The Eastern Theatre Command of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) said it had started joint military drills, involving the army, navy, air force and rocket force, in areas around Taiwan at 7:45 a.m. (2345 GMT).
The drills are being held in the Taiwan Strait, the north, south and east of Taiwan, as well as areas around the Taiwan-controlled islands of Kinmen, Matsu, Wuqiu and Dongyin, the command said in a statement, the first time China’s exercises have included areas round these islands.