BEIJING, May  25, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - China has ended two days of military
drills around Taiwan that saw jets loaded with live munitions and warships
practise seizing and isolating the self-ruled island.

       The exercises simulated strikes targeting Taiwan's leaders as well as its
ports and airports to "cut off the island's 'blood vessels'", Chinese military
analysts told state media.

       Beijing considers the democratic island part of its territory and has not
ruled out using force to bring it under its control.

       The war games kicked off Thursday morning, as aircraft and naval vessels
surrounded Taiwan to conduct mock attacks against "important targets", state
broadcaster CCTV said.

       Codenamed "Joint Sword-2024A", the exercises were launched three days after
Taiwan's President Lai Ching-te took office and made an inauguration speech
that China denounced as a "confession of independence".

       Beijing's defence ministry spokesman Wu Qian said Friday that Lai was
pushing Taiwan "into a perilous situation of war and danger".

       "Every time 'Taiwan independence' provokes us, we will push our
countermeasures one step further" until "complete reunification" is achieved,
he said.

       The origin of the dispute dates back to the Chinese Civil War, when
nationalists fled to Taiwan following their defeat at the hands of the
Communist Party in 1949.

       The drills are part of an escalating campaign of intimidation by China,
which has carried out a series of such exercises in recent years.

       Beijing has also amped up its rhetoric, with its foreign ministry on
Thursday saying "Taiwan independence forces will be left with their heads
broken and blood flowing".

       On Saturday, Taiwan's presidency said it had "a full grasp of the situation
and appropriate responses to ensure national security".

       "China's recent unilateral provocation not only undermines the status
quo... it is also a blatant provocation to the international order,"
Presidential Office spokesperson Karen Kuo said.

       
       - Closer 'than ever' -
       
       A total of 111 Chinese aircraft and dozens of naval vessels took part in
the drills over two days, according to Taiwan's defence ministry.

       On Friday evening, China's army published images of the drills'
"highlights", featuring missile-launching trucks, fighter jets taking off and
naval officers looking through binoculars at Taiwanese ships.

       Meng Xiangqing from Beijing's National Defense University told state news
agency Xinhua that People's Liberation Army vessels "were getting closer to the
island than ever before".

       Beijing launched similar exercises in August and April last year after
Taiwanese leaders visited the United States.

       China also launched major drills in 2022 after Nancy Pelosi, then speaker
of the US House of Representatives, visited Taiwan.

       The scale of the most recent ones was "significant, but is nowhere near as
big, it seems, as last August's", Wen-Ti Sung, a nonresident fellow at the
Atlantic Council's Global China Hub, told AFP.

       Sung and other analysts said the geographic scope of the exercises had
increased, with a new focus on isolating Taiwan's outlying islands.

       The drills took place in the Taiwan Strait and to the north, south and east
of the island, as well as around the Taipei-administered islands of Kinmen,
Matsu, Wuqiu and Dongyin.

       Tong Zhen, from China's Academy of Military Sciences, told Xinhua the
drills "mainly targeted the ringleaders and political centre of 'Taiwan
independence', and involved simulated precision strikes on key political and
military targets".

       
       - Calls for restraint -
       
       The dispute has long made the Taiwan Strait one of the world's most
dangerous flashpoints.

       On Saturday, the United States again urged China to "act with restraint".
       "Using a normal, routine, and democratic transition as an excuse for
military provocations risks escalation," State Department spokesman Matthew
Miller said in a statement.

       US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will meet his Chinese counterpart at the
end of the month at the Shangri-La Dialogue, an annual gathering of defence
officials, the Pentagon said Friday.

       "Beijing is trying to use this very high-profile show of force to not only
show displeasure against Taiwan, but also... to deter and dissuade other
countries and partners from contemplating further cooperation or engagement of
Taiwan," said the Atlantic Council's Sung.

       "That furthers isolation of Taiwan, which allows Beijing to negotiate with
Taiwan going forward from a position of strength."

       On Saturday, foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying shared an image
apparently taken from a PLA jet window, which had a sticker of China's flag on
it.
       "China's national flag... in the same frame with the Central Range
mountains on Taiwan," she wrote on social media platform X.

       "A most welcome sight for the 1.4 billion Chinese people."