Chinese fighters fly within view of Taiwan's Central Mountain Range, Oct. 14, 2024, in this screenshot of a video released by China's Eastern Theater Command. (China's Eastern Theater Command)
U.S. Army Pacific’s commander took the measure of China’s military during a virtual fireside chat on Tuesday, a day after Chinese ships and aircraft swarmed around Taiwan for a daylong military exercise.
China on Monday sent 153 warplanes, a one-day record, across the Taiwan Strait median, the unofficial dividing line between the island and mainland China, during exercise Joint Sword 2024B. The aircraft carrier Liaoning and another two dozen ships joined the drills, Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense wrote on social platform X on Monday and Tuesday.
The training happened four days after Taiwan marked National Day, its founding holiday, and a speech by Taiwan President Lai Ching-te. China launched a similar, two-day exercise, Joint Sword 2024A, in May after Lai’s inauguration.
These exercises result from Beijing’s decadelong effort to modernize and reorganize its military, which bodes ill for the Indo-Pacific, according to Gen. Charles Flynn, commander of U.S. Army Pacific.
“The incremental path that they’ve been on, the insidious nature of that path, in other words, the lawfare, corruption, the behavior and some of the ways forces are operating out there - that is concerning,” he said during a talk for the Center for a New American Security, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank.
Gen. Charles Flynn, commander of U.S. Army Pacific, speaks at the AUSA Contemporary Military Forum in Washington, D.C. Oct. 14, 2024. (Leroy Council/U.S. Army)
On Wednesday, a spokesman for China’s Office of Taiwan Affairs reiterated that force remains an option for bringing Taiwan into a union with the mainland. It regards Taiwan as a breakaway province that must be returned to the fold.
“We are willing to strive for the prospect of peaceful reunification with the utmost sincerity and endeavor,” spokesman Chen Binhua said at a press briefing Wednesday, Reuters reported that day. “But we will never commit ourselves to renouncing the use of force.”
Monday’s exercise was punishment for Taiwan because Lai had colluded with foreign powers, damaged Taiwan-China relations, threatened stability in the region and “stubbornly adhered to the position of Taiwan independence,” China’s Taiwan affairs office said in a statement.
Lai’s statements on Taiwan sovereignty since his inauguration, however, differ little from those of his predecessor, Tsai Ing-wen, according to Norah Huang, director for international relations at the Prospect Foundation, a security and foreign affairs think tank in Taipei.
China’s reunification goals are less about nationalism and more about “expansionist imperialism,” she told Stars and Stripes by email Wednesday.
“As [Beijing] continues rolling out military modernization and reforms, China is definitely more confident in leveraging its military to amplify intimidation against Taiwan,” Huang said.
As it strengthens, China has also taken increasingly aggressive actions against neighboring countries, including territorial disputes with Vietnam and the Philippines in the South China Sea and frequent drills around Taiwan.
Broadening his remarks, Flynn said Chinese intimidation “in many ways is helping us” as the U.S. builds a “security architecture” in the region.
“I do think that U.S. leadership in that area carries a great weight,” he said. “There is a — in the neighborhood there — an economic relationship of necessity that goes on with China. It’s undeniable.”
But the U.S. is the “security partner of choice” among those same countries, Flynn said. “We need to continue to invest and work on that every single day because it’s vitally important to the region.”
