China’s military conducted a second day of war games around Taiwan on Friday, May 24, with exercises designed to test its ability to “seize power” and control key areas. Beijing launched these drills as a response to Taiwan’s newly inaugurated president, Lai Ching-te, aiming to punish him for his stance on Taiwan's sovereignty.
The two days of drills took place in the Taiwan Strait and around several Taiwan-controlled islands near the Chinese coast. A Taiwanese official noted that these exercises included mock bombings of foreign vessels, starting just three days after Lai took office. Taiwan condemned these actions, viewing them as provocative and destabilizing.
China sees democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory and has labeled Lai Ching-te a “separatist.” Lai's inauguration speech on Monday called for Beijing to stop its threats, asserting that the two sides of the strait are “not subordinate to each other.” This speech further intensified Beijing's ire.
The People’s Liberation Army's Eastern Theatre Command stated that the drills, named “Joint Sword – 2024A,” were conducted to “test the ability to jointly seize power, launch joint attacks, and occupy key areas.” These maneuvers underscore China's refusal to rule out the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control.
A senior Taiwan security official reported that several Chinese bombers performed mock attacks on foreign vessels near the eastern end of the Bashi Channel, which separates Taiwan from the Philippines. These mock attacks were part of exercises to practice seizing “total control” of areas west of the first island chain. This chain, running from Japan through Taiwan, the Philippines, and Borneo, encloses China’s coastal seas.
Additionally, Chinese coast guard boats conducted “harassment” drills off Taiwan’s east coast, which included mock inspections of civilian ships. The Chinese Coast Guard described these actions as “law enforcement drills” focused on verification, identification, warning, and repulsion.
On Friday, the Chinese theatre command shared an animated video on WeChat, showing missiles launched at Taiwan from ground, air, and sea, hitting the cities of Taipei, Kaohsiung, and Hualien in fiery explosions. The video concluded with the words “Sacred weapons to kill independence” in traditional Chinese characters, which Taiwan uses.
In response, Taiwan’s armed forces mobilized to monitor and shadow Chinese forces. The defense ministry released images of F-16s armed with live missiles patrolling the skies and Chinese coast guard vessels participating in the drills, along with Chinese Jiangdao-class corvettes. The ministry reported that by 6 a.m. on Friday, 49 Chinese military aircraft, 19 navy ships, and seven coast guard ships were detected. Of the aircraft, 28 crossed the strait’s median line, an unofficial barrier that China does not recognize. The closest Chinese aircraft came within 40 nautical miles (74 km) of Keelung, a northern Taiwanese city and navy base.
President Lai has repeatedly offered talks with China, which have been rebuffed. He maintains that only Taiwan’s people can decide their future, rejecting Beijing’s sovereignty claims. Despite China’s military threats, life in Taiwan has continued as normal. Taiwanese media covered the drills extensively, but also focused on domestic issues, such as the contested parliament reforms that have sparked large protests.
On China’s tightly controlled social media platform Weibo, “Eastern Theatre” was the top searched item, with most comments supporting the drills. Another trending topic was “the return of Taiwan.” The People’s Daily, the official newspaper of China’s ruling Communist Party, published a commentary asserting that the nation’s territory cannot be divided, the country cannot fall into chaos, and its people cannot be separated. It stated that the actions of Taiwan’s leader would accelerate the destruction of pro-independence forces in Taiwan.
Analysts, regional diplomats, and senior Taiwan officials noted that the scale of these drills was smaller than similar exercises in 2022 and were expected by Taiwanese and foreign officials. However, they cautioned that such activities still increased the risk of accidents or miscalculations, highlighting that Beijing was issuing a calibrated warning that Chinese forces could quickly attempt a blockade if it wanted to pressure Lai’s administration.
