China insists on ‘force’ as option to take Taiwan
TAIPEI—China said on Monday it would never renounce the “use of force” to take control of Taiwan, after ending a day of military drills around the self-ruled island that Beijing said was a “stern warning” to “separatist” forces.
Beijing, which claims Taiwan as part of its own territory, deployed fighter jets, drones, warships and coast guard vessels to encircle the island in its fourth round of large-scale war games in just over two years.
The defense ministry in Taipei said yesterday that it detected 153 Chinese warplanes during Monday’s drills, updating the “one-day record” of 125 it earlier reported.
The United States said China’s actions were “unwarranted” and risked “escalation” as it called on Beijing to act with restraint.
China declared the drills over at around 6:00 p.m., some 13 hours after they began.
‘No space for independence’
“We sincerely strive for the prospect of peaceful reunification, but we will never promise to renounce the use of force and will not leave any space for ‘Taiwan independence,’” Ministry of National Defense spokesperson Wu Qian said soon after.
The exercises, dubbed “Joint Sword-2024B,” “fully tested the integrated joint operation capabilities of its troops,” military spokesperson Capt. Li Xi said in a statement.
President Lai Ching-te, who took office in May, has been more outspoken than his predecessor Tsai Ing-wen in defending Taiwan’s sovereignty, angering Beijing, which calls him a “separatist.”
Lai vowed on Monday to “protect democratic Taiwan and safeguard national security,” while the defense ministry said it had dispatched “appropriate forces” in response to the drills.
Taiwan detected 153 Chinese aircraft, including fighter jets and drones from early morning to late afternoon, a defense ministry official said, describing it as a record for a single day. Seventeen warships were also spotted.
Outlying islands administered by Taipei had been put on “heightened alert,” Taiwan’s defense ministry said.
Beijing said its exercises served as a “stern warning to the separatist acts of ‘Taiwan independence’ forces.”
The drills took place in “areas to the north, south and east of Taiwan Island,” Li said earlier.
Their aim was to focus “on subjects of sea-air combat readiness patrol, blockade on key ports and areas,” Li said.
China’s coast guard was also sent to conduct “inspections,” with a diagram released by the coast guard showing four fleets encircling Taiwan and moving anticlockwise around the island.
