Understanding China’s Stance On Taiwan Amid ‘Abnormal’ Military Drills

Addressing the UN General Assembly on Thursday, China’s Vice President Han Zheng sought to highlight Beijing’s “strong will” on Taiwan.

He stressed Taiwan constitutes an “inalienable part” of China, while noting Beijing preferred peaceful means to take the democratically governed island.

“Realising China’s complete reunification is a shared aspiration of all the sons and daughters of the Chinese nation,” Han added.

“No one should ever underestimate the firm resolve, strong will and the power of the Chinese people to safeguard their sovereignty and territorial integrity,” he continued.

Taiwan Raises Concerns Over Chinese Movements

The communist mainland has staged repeated military exercises around Taiwan. On Friday, the island’s Defence Minister Chiu Kuo-cheng warned of “abnormal” military movements.

Taiwan has reported an increase in such activities during the past week, as numerous fighters, drones, bombers and other aircraft, as well as warships, have operated nearby.

The defence ministry had earlier reported on monitoring Chinese activities near Dacheng Bay in the southern province of Fujian, facing Taiwan.

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So far, Beijing hasn’t released any comments on the recent drills. Nonetheless, it carried out landing drills in the area in September last year and the year before that, said Chieh Chung.

Those activities featured civilian ships with equipment practicing “dockless unloading”, the military researcher at Taiwan’s National Policy Foundation think tank added.

China Possibly Reviewing Lessons From Ukraine

The self-governing democracy has frequently said it would remain calm and not escalate the situation, but that it won’t hesitate to deal with “repeated provocations” from China.

So far, Chinese forces have not entered Taiwan’s territorial seas or airspace. However, the frequent and controversial military drills have been exacerbating circumstances.

Experts believe Beijing has been reviewing lessons from Ukraine, which Moscow has failed to seize a year and a half after invading.

While China is allied with Russia, it has been frequently calling for a “cessation of hostilities and resumption of peace talks”.