China’s military says it has begun joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan.
It said the exercises were intended to “serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence”, and called the self-governed island’s president a “parasite”.
China considers Taiwan to be its own territory and has threatened to use force to bring it under its control.
Its military released a poster showing Chinese ships and fighter jets circling the island titled “Closing In” and featuring the words “sinister moves of Taiwan separatists courting disaster upon themselves”.
It comes after Taiwan’s president President Lai Ching-Te called Beijing a “foreign hostile force” last month.
Announcing the joint exercises, China’s Eastern Theatre Command depicted Mr Lai as a cartoon bug held by a pair of chopsticks above a burning Taiwan.
“Parasite poisoning Taiwan island. Parasite hollowing Island out. Parasite courting ultimate destruction,” the animation said.
Footage also showed the capital Taipei being aimed at from above and military vehicles patrolling city streets.
The Eastern Theatre Command said on its official WeChat social media account: “The focus is on exercises such as combat readiness patrols at sea and in the air, seizing comprehensive control, striking maritime and land targets and imposing blockade controls on key areas and routes.”
Taiwan’s Defence Ministry said China’s Shandong aircraft carrier group had entered its response area and it had tracked 19 Chinese navy vessels in the waters surrounding the island in a 24-hour period.
It said the group had dispatched military aircraft and ships and activated land-based missile systems in response.
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“The Chinese Communist Party has continued to increase its military activities around Taiwan and in the Indo-Pacific
region… and has become the biggest ‘troublemaker’ in the international community,” the statement added.
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The drills come two weeks after a large-scale exercise in mid-March, when Beijing sent a large number of drones and ships towards the island.
