Taiwan's president said he looked forward to working with China towards "a position of peace and common prosperity" 

Taiwan President Lai Ching-te extended goodwill towards and offered cooperation with China on Sunday following two days of Chinese war games near the island, as a group of U.S. lawmakers arrived in Taipei.

China, which claims democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory, carried out the military drills on Thursday and Friday, calling them "punishment" after Lai's inauguration speech on Monday which Beijing called another push for the island's formal independence.

China has repeatedly lambasted Lai as a "separatist". Lai rejects Beijing's sovereignty claims and says only Taiwan's people can decide their future. He has repeatedly offered talks but been rebuffed.

Speaking at a meeting of his ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in the southern city of Tainan, Lai called on China to "share the heavy responsibility of regional stability with Taiwan", according to comments provided by his party.

Lai, who won election in January, said he also "looked forward to enhancing mutual understanding and reconciliation with China via exchanges and cooperation, creating mutual benefit and moving towards a position of peace and common prosperity".

He thanked the United States and other countries for their expressions of concern about the Chinese exercises.

"The international community will not accept any country creating waves in the Taiwan Strait and affecting regional stability," Lai added.

The first group of U.S. lawmakers to visit Taiwan since Lai took office arrived on the island on Sunday for a four-day visit, led by Michael McCaul, the Republican chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

McCaul, joined by a bipartisan group of five other lawmakers, will meet Lai on Monday morning to "exchange views on peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific", Taiwan's presidential office said.

"Taiwan is a thriving democracy. The U.S. will continue to stand by our steadfast partner and work to maintain the status quo across the Taiwan Strait," McCaul said in a statement.

Taiwan's government has condemned China's war games.

Over the past four years, China has staged regular military activities around Taiwan as it seeks to pressure the island's government.

On Sunday, Taiwan's defence ministry said the garrison on Erdan islet, part of the Taiwan-controlled Kinmen islands that sit next to China's Xiamen and Quanzhou cities, had discovered a "crude" cardboard box containing paper with political slogans on it, written in the simplified Chinese characters used in China.

The ministry said the box was suspected of being dropped by a drone outside the line of sight, adding, "It is a typical cognitive operation trick."

In 2022, Taiwan shot down a drone off Kinmen after complaining of days of harassment.

China's defence ministry did not answer calls outside of office hours.

China's military has kept up a barrage of propaganda videos and animations directed at Taiwan since the exercises began.

Its Eastern Theatre Command, which ran the drills, showed a video on Sunday of rockets firing in what it referred to in English as "cross-strait lethality".

Get AfriPrime Android Web View app....Click the link to Amazon app store to download https://rb.gy/3xek46

Taiwan's president says wants to work with China after drills

Taiwan's new president said Sunday he was still ready to work with China, despite this week's military drills around the self-ruled island.

Three days after Lai Ching-te was sworn in, Chinese warships and fighter jets encircled Taiwan in drills that China said were a test of its ability to seize the island.

During the two-day drills, China vowed that "independence forces" would be left "with their heads broken and blood flowing".

Lai told reporters on Sunday that he wanted Taiwan and China to "jointly shoulder the important responsibility of regional stability".

"I also look forward to enhancing mutual understanding and reconciliation through exchanges and cooperation with China... and moving towards a position of peace and common prosperity," he said at an event in Taipei.

Communications between China and Taiwan were severed in 2016 after former president Tsai Ing-wen took office, pledging to defend Taiwan's sovereignty.

Lai, who comes from the same Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) as Tsai, has vowed to maintain her policies of building up Taiwan's defence capabilities, while remaining open to dialogue with China and strengthening relations with the island's partners -- particularly the United States.

But China said Lai's inaugural speech on Monday amounted to calls for independence, "pushing our compatriots in Taiwan into a perilous situation of war and danger".

"Every time 'Taiwan independence' provokes us, we will push our countermeasures one step further, until the complete reunification of the motherland is achieved," defence ministry spokesman Wu Qian said on Friday.

Wen-Ti Sung, a nonresident fellow at the Atlantic Council's Global China Hub, told AFP that Lai would "hold firm to project resolve" after this first interaction between his administration and Beijing.

"However, he will no doubt be looking to leverage other international partners and friends to help facilitate more back-channel communications with Beijing," Sung said.

On Sunday night, the United States' de facto embassy announced that Republican Congressman Michael McCaul will lead a delegation to visit Taiwan from Sunday to Thursday "to discuss US-Taiwan relations, regional security, trade and investment".

Taiwan's presidential spokesperson Wen Lii said the delegation will be meeting with Lai on Monday.

The visit "conveys an expression of support for the new administration and the people of Taiwan through concrete actions," he said.

- Intimidation tactics -

Since 2016, China has upped military and political pressures on Taiwan, and its naval vessels, drones and warplanes maintain a near-daily presence around the island.

The dispute has long made the Taiwan Strait one of the world's most dangerous flashpoints.

During this week's drills, fighter jets loaded with live ammunition scrambled towards targets and bombers formed formations to combine with warships to simulate "strikes against important targets", China's state broadcaster CCTV said.

Tong Zhen, from China's Academy of Military Sciences, told state news agency Xinhua that the drills "mainly targeted the ringleaders and political centre of 'Taiwan independence', and involved simulated precision strikes on key political and military targets".

Meng Xiangqing, a professor from Beijing-based National Defense University, told Xinhua that the People's Liberation Army (PLA) vessels "were getting closer to the island than ever before".

"The drills have shown that we can control that eastern area," Meng said, referring to the direction considered by the PLA the most likely from which external intervention could come.

The United States, which does not diplomatically recognise Taiwan but is its biggest ally and arms supplier, on Saturday urged China to "act with restraint".

Experts say Beijing is seeking to intimidate and exhaust Taiwan's military.

On Sunday, two days after the drills ended, Taiwan's defence ministry reported that seven Chinese aircraft, 14 naval vessels and four coast guard ships were "operating around" the island in a 24-hour period ending at 06:00 am (2200 GMT Saturday).

The ministry also said in a separate statement that it had found a cardboard box containing political slogans that it said was left by Beijing on a dock in Erdan, an islet part of Taiwan-controlled Kinmen next to China's Xiamen.

The defence ministry shrugged off the incident, saying it suspected it was intended to create online chatter.

- 'Major test' -

Lai's first week in office also saw tens of thousands of people take to the streets of Taipei to protest bills proposed by the opposition Kuomintang -- regarded as pro-Beijing -- and the Taiwan People's Party.

DPP lawmakers have been accusing the opposition of fast-tracking the bills -- which expand parliament's powers -- without proper consultation.

With Lai's DPP no longer holding the majority in parliament, his party will likely face challenges in passing his administration's policies, such as bolstering the defence budget.

"The pressures are coming fast and early for the Lai administration," Amanda Hsiao of the International Crisis Group told AFP.

"This is going to be a major test of their ability to manage multiple challenges, domestic and external, at the same time."

Get AfriPrime Android Web View app....Click the link to Amazon app store to download https://rb.gy/3xek46

China Stages Mock Strikes On Taiwan In Day 2 Of “Punishment” Exercise

Taiwan under threat during second day of Chinese drills..

The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Eastern Theater Command carried out simulated missile strikes against Taiwan on Friday. It also sent “multiple batches of fighters equipped with live ammunition” and bombers toward “strike positions” near a city on the island nation's southeastern coast, official Chinese state media reported.

“Under the cover of the fighter formations, several bombers left the island chain and established multiple strike positions off the coast of Taitung, cooperating with naval ship formations and mobile shore missiles,” the official Chinese CCTV news reported. “Fire units, etc., conduct simulated strikes on important targets.”

The planned two-day “punishment” exercise called Joint Sword-2024A (JS-24A) began on Thursday and saw China’s military surround the breakaway province. It came in response to the inauguration on Monday of newly elected, independence-minded President Lai Ching Te. You can read more about JS-24A in our initial reporting here.

China’s Defense Ministry (MoD) released new video on Friday showing its aircraft, ships and ground-based forces in action during the exercise. The major difference in imagery MoD provided Friday was video of Chinese H-6 bombers. It also contained imagery of weapons also released a day earlier, including J-16 Flanker fighters, a DF-15 short-range ballistic missile, and PHL-16 long-range rocket artillery systems.

Friday's video showed the H-6s had cruise missiles under their wings while the J-16s were carrying air-to-air missiles.

Taiwan’s military reported that a total of 62 PLA aircraft and a mix of 27 People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) and Chinese Coast Guard (CCG) vessels were operating around the main island as of 9:40 p.m. Friday local time, according to the English-language TaiwanPlus news outlet. The War Zone could not independently verify that figure and the MND has not released its tally.

That represents a plus-up from Thursday, when at least 49 Chinese aircraft, including Su-30 and J-16s, and KJ-500 airborne early warning and control planes as well as warships and mainland forces took part in the exercise launch. Taiwanese officials said that 19 PLA Navy ships and at least another seven China Coast Guard vessels were still surrounding the island as of 6 a.m. local time Thursday, but did not identify their types.

As we noted in our initial story, emerging imagery on Thursday showed “PLAN Type 052D destroyers and Type 054A frigates, as well as at least one Type 022 catamaran missile boat participating in Joint Sword-2024A. Interestingly, the Type 022 was observed operating together with Coast Guard ships.”

The Chinese MoD lambasted Taiwanese President Lai for pushing Taiwan into what it called “a dangerous situation of war.”

“Those who play with fire will burn themselves,” Chinese MoD spokesperson Wu Qian told reporters. “Whenever ‘Taiwan independence’ (forces) provoke us, we will push our countermeasures forward until the complete reunification of the motherland is achieved.”

The Taiwanese (Republic of China, or ROC) Ministry of National Defense (MND) on Friday remained resolute in the face of the Chinese aggression.

MND also released video on Friday showing what it says was part of their response to JS-24A. It included ROC Air Force (ROCAF) F-16s monitoring PLAN warships taking part in the exercise. Interestingly, the wingtip AIM-9 Sidewinder air-to-air missile seen on one fighter appears to be inert.

The War Zone could not independently verify when those aircraft were launched. It could have been stock footage, we just don’t know for sure.

In addition, Taiwan released images of its F-16s with live missiles.

ROCAF also released video of what is claimed to be the first footage taken from its Vipers' Sniper pods. It showed the fighter monitoring an H-6 bomber and J-16 fighter.

Additional video emerged on social media Thursday purporting to show several ROC Navy vessels making an “emergency departure” in reaction to JS-24A. The War Zone could not independently verify when that took place.

Taiwan also announced on Thursday that it was deploying Hsiung Feng III supersonic anti-ship missile systems as well as unspecified ground-based antiaircraft systems to counter any potential Chinese threat.

U.S. and Taiwanese authorities have warned in recent years that the PLA could feel confident enough to launch an intervention against the island by 2027, if not earlier. Last month, the U.S. and Taiwan navies “conducted joint drills in the Pacific in April that officially, did not take place,” Reuters reported, citing “four people briefed on the matter.” The drills occurred in the western Pacific.

A Defense Department (DoD) official gave The War Zone the following statement about the Pentagon’s position on the exercise:

• We have noted with concern reports of the People's Liberation Army joint military drills in the Taiwan Strait and around Taiwan.  We are monitoring very closely.

• We strongly urge Beijing to act with restraint and reiterate that the PRC should not use Taiwan's political transition – part of a normal, routine democratic process – as a pretext or excuse for provocative or coercive measures.

• The PRC's actions are reckless, risk escalation, and erode longstanding norms that have maintained regional peace and stability for decades.

• We are confident in our current force posture and operations in the region to ensure peace and stability and to meet our national security commitments.

• As you know, we don’t discuss future operations.

The U.S. has long maintained a policy of “strategic ambiguity” about the potential defense of Taiwan, neither confirming nor denying it would step in militarily to help Taipei fend off a Chinese attack. However, President Joe Biden has muddied those waters, publicly avowing that the U.S would intervene to support Taiwan. His officials have been left scrambling to explain that strategic ambiguity remains on the table. You can see Biden talk about U.S. troops defending Taiwan in this video below.

It is unclear what, if any actions, the Pentagon is taking in response to JS-24A. A number of U.S. assets have recently arrived in the Pacific, which military officials have said were routine and not connected to the ongoing exercise.

The Air Force announced that B-1 Lancers assigned to the 28th Bomb Wing, Ellsworth Air Force Base, South Dakota, arrived at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam on Thursday. The Bones were sent to Guam, about 1,700 miles southeast of Taiwan, “in support of a routine Bomber Task Force deployment,” the Air Force said in its media release.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Navy's only forward-deployed aircraft carrier, USS Ronald Reagan, is currently in the Philippine Sea. In addition, the Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group “entered the South China Sea January 23 to conduct routine operations,” the Navy said in a release.

While this latest Chinese drill has so far gone off without any kinetic interaction, the Xi government continues to back its desire to take back Taiwan with displays of military might. Whether China would actually decide to attack is unknown. It should be noted though that Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine was launched after a large-scale military exercise, and similar questions were raised at the time. As we have noted repeatedly over the years, for Taiwan and prior to the invasion of Ukraine, it will all be an exercise, one of a seemingly endless number of increasingly complex drills, until it isn't.

Get AfriPrime Android Web View app....Click the link to Amazon app store to download https://rb.gy/3xek46