China has held several major military drills off the coast of Taiwan since 2022 and its fighter jets regularly enter Taiwanese airspace.
The latest exercise has been dubbed Joint Sword 2024-B by Beijing and had been widely expected since May, when drills bearing the same name and officially labelled as part A were staged.
That exercise, which China described as its largest yet, were timed to coincide with the inauguration of President Lai, who Beijing has long seen as a “troublemaker” advocating for Taiwan’s independence.
His latest comments, made on Taiwan’s national day, were condemned by China, which said he was escalating tensions with “sinister intentions”.
But while these drills were widely expected, the deployment and how close Chinese ships and aircraft were to Taiwan – as well as the fiery rhetoric – could be seen as very aggressive behaviour.
In any other context, it would have been seen as a dramatic escalation – but it came against the backdrop of tensions that were already very high.
The US reacted by saying that there was no justification for the drills after Lai’s “routine” speech, and that China should avoid further actions which may jeopardise peace and stability in the region.
