The Chinese military launched new war games with ships and aircraft near Taiwan barely more than a week after the self-ruled island celebrated its National Day.

He said Joint Sword-2024B exercises are conducted in areas north, south, and east of Taiwan. The exercises will include sea and air combat preparedness, blockade of key ports, and assault on maritime and land targets. “These exercises are a legitimate and necessary operation,” he said, adding that no end date has been scheduled.

Taiwan’s Defence Ministry denounced China’s “irrational and provocative acts” and said it deployed troops to safeguard Taiwan’s freedom and sovereignty. As of 8 a.m., around 25 Chinese military aircraft and 11 ships—including seven from the Navy, reports said—were observed near Taiwan. Taiwan’s presidential office called on Beijing to respect the Taiwanese people’s choice for a free and democratic life and to refrain from military provocations.

In recent years, the People’s Republic of China has stepped up its military maneuvers close to Taiwan, which it views as one of its provinces. These drills came barely a few days after Taiwan’s President William Lai Ching-te made his first National Day speech on October 10, where he vowed that any form of territorial conquest would be resisted and concurrently declared that Beijing cannot claim to represent 23 million people.

Experts point out that the drills are inevitable following Lai’s speech. The drill indeed reflects the Chinese Communist Party determination to defend its land and serves as a warning to Taipei and Washington not to step over Beijing’s red lines.

Beijing has not ruled out the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control, viewing the drills as a warning against what it sees as separatist actions by Taiwan’s independence supporters. It has labeled Lai a “separatist” and previously conducted military exercises shortly after his inauguration.

Another professor, at National Taiwan University pointed out that military threats are severe but reasonably expected. He downplayed the panic by saying, “There is no need to panic or overreact. We all saw this coming. It will pass quickly.”

In his October 10 speech, Lai also said that he wants “healthy and orderly dialogue” with Beijing, urging it to use its influence to help solve global conflicts. China’s state-run media went ballistic against Lai’s speech, describing it as a “poison pill wrapped in cellophane” and accusing the Taiwan leader of espousing a “two-state” theory on Taiwan versus China.

Experts believe that China might be testing international reactions during global instability like those in Ukraine and the Middle East. Analysts take this as an opportunity for Beijing to check how much support Taiwan can expect. China has isolated Taiwan from the rest of the world by cutting it off from international forums and trying to woo its remaining few diplomatic friends.

Taiwan’s principal supporter and leading supplier of weaponry, the United States, expressed “serious concern” over China’s latest military drills. It stressed that China’s military provocation was unwarranted, as it had responded to a routine speech: “We call on China to behave in a way that maintains peace and stability in the region.”

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