Taiwan is prepared for Chinese drills following the inauguration

Taiwan’s top security official stated on Wednesday that the country is prepared for China to conduct military drills following President-elect Lai Ching-te’s inauguration this month. He also mentioned that China has already started utilizing novel and unconventional strategies.

Lai is despised by China, which considers democratically run Taiwan to be its own country and sees him as a dangerous separatist. He has made several offers of negotiations, the most recent of which was refused by the Chinese government last week.

Like the current president, Tsai Ing-wen, Lai rejects Beijing’s claims to sovereignty, believing that the island’s people alone should determine its future. On May 20, Lai, who is currently vice president, will take office.

Taiwan National Security Bureau Director-General Tsai Ming-yen told reporters in parliament that it was in the interests of China and all other members of the international community to keep the Taiwan Strait stable.

According to Tsai, who is unrelated to the president but has the same family name, China is currently employing a “carrot and stick” strategy toward Taiwan in an effort to sway the policies of the new administration about China.

“What needs special attention is that following May 20, from June to November, is when the Chinese Communists hold their regular military drills,” he stated. “Whether the Chinese Communists use this hot season as an excuse to carry out some military drills to further pressure Taiwan is a key point the National Security Bureau is focusing on.”

On Wednesday, the first day of the Labor Day holiday, calls seeking comment outside of office hours were not returned by China’s defense ministry.

Over the course of the last four years, China’s military has significantly boosted its activity in and surrounding Taiwan.

Answering inquiries from lawmakers, Tsai stated that China has been seen conducting “joint combat readiness patrols” at night three times already this year, which he described as a novel trend.

Tsai added, “In addition, inflight refuelling aircraft are being used during the joint combat readiness patrols” to increase the amount of time combat aircraft can stay in the air.

He said that minesweepers and landing ships had also been seen participating in these operations.

“These are new patterns for this year.”

The Chinese combat readiness patrol, in which warships and planes coexist in the skies and seas close to Taiwan, was last reported by Taiwan’s defense ministry on Saturday.

Following the visit of then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taipei in 2022, and following President Tsai’s meeting with then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy during a stopover in California last year, China conducted large-scale war games close to Taiwan.

Taiwan-based security sources have cautioned China on multiple occasions that they may use force to express their disapproval of Lai.

China has been applying constant pressure on Taiwan since Lai won the January election. Examples of this pressure include creating new air routes in the Taiwan Strait that Taipei claims endanger aviation safety and conducting coast guard patrols close to a series of Taiwanese-controlled islands that are next to the Chinese shore.

However, Taipei’s government is still debating Beijing’s offer to resume, if limited, Chinese travel to Taiwan, as Beijing wants to see a complete return of Chinese visitor trips.