Chinese Military Drills Intensify Near Taiwan After Lai Inauguration

May 25, 2024

China started large-scale military training near Taiwan soon after William Lai Ching-te became president of Taiwan on May 20, 2023, under the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). In his inauguration speech, Lai promised to protect Taiwan’s freedom and told China to stop making military threats. Chinese Naval Colonel Li Xi called these drills a “strong punishment” for Taiwan’s “separatist acts.” This shows that tensions are rising between China, which sees Taiwan as part of its land, and Taiwan, which claims independence.

Taiwan’s Defensive Strategy

Taiwan has created a “asymmetric” defence strategy in response to ongoing threats. This strategy focuses on improving skills that would make any attempt by China to invade very expensive. Spending money on anti-ship weapons, naval mines, stealth fast-attack boats, and advanced unmanned aerial vehicles like the “Albatross II” is part of this plan. These strategies try to take advantage of the geographical and logistical problems that any large-scale attack would have to deal with. Taiwan’s landscape naturally helps defend it.

Geographical Challenges to Invasion

Because of where Taiwan is located, any possible armed invasion would be very hard to carry out. It would take a huge fleet to move troops across the Taiwan Strait, which is a dangerous physical barrier that could be broken by Taiwan’s defences. Taiwan’s rough terrain and cities that are ready for guerrilla warfare make land-based military actions even harder for an invading force.

U.S. Support and Taiwan’s Military Investments

According to the Taiwan Relations Act, the US is still Taiwan’s main ally and gives it a lot of military help. Taiwan’s defence budget has been growing every year, and a lot of money has been put into both traditional and unconventional military assets. These include orders for modern U.S. weapons like fighter jets and missile defence systems to make the island safer in case it is attacked.

Objectives Behind China’s Recent Military Drills

People see China’s recent military drills as an attempt to scare Taiwan and make sovereignty claims, since Taiwan’s government position is still very much in favour of keeping its independence. For people in China and around the world, these kinds of drills also show how strong China’s military is getting. But the latest drills were much smaller than the ones that were held in 2022. This suggests that Beijing is being cautious, possibly to keep risks low while still making its position on Taiwan clear.

What is the Taiwan Strait?

Taiwan is separated from mainland China by the Taiwan Strait, which is 180 kilometres wide.
It is part of the South China Sea and connects to the East China Sea.
In the past, it was an important route for trade and military moves.
The strait is also on the Pacific Ring of Fire, which means that earthquakes happen there a lot.
In an interesting twist, the Taiwan Strait wasn’t always a strait.
During the last ice age, it was a land bridge.
The waters here are biologically diverse and home to many marine species, including the Chinese white dolphin, which is seriously endangered.
Because of the strait’s strategic and economic importance, it has become a centre of Cross-Strait relations, affecting many political and military issues.

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