PLA drills around Taiwan after William Lai’s US trip seen as ‘more restrained’

Beijing was angered by vice-president’s New York and San Francisco stopovers last week, staging exercises as a ‘warning to Taiwan separatists’

But analysts say they did not match the size and scale of the drills that followed Tsai Ing-wen’s meetings with US officials in April and last August

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A Taiwanese sailor on the Tian Dan guided-missile frigate monitors the activities of the PLA’s Xuzhou frigate near Taiwan on Saturday. Photo: EPA-EFE/Taiwan Navy

Published: 10:00pm, 21 Aug 2023Updated: 10:44pm, 21 Aug 2023

The People’s Liberation Army response over the weekend to Taiwan’s vice-president visiting the United States was more restrained than after the island’s leader met senior US officials, according to analysts.

Large-scale live-fire war games were held around the self-ruled island in August 2022 and in April in protest at official contact between President Tsai Ing-wen and US House speakers.

Beijing was again angered last week when William Lai Ching-te, the ruling Democratic Progressive Party’s presidential candidate, visited New York and San Francisco on his way to and from Paraguay, where he attended the inauguration of President Santiago Pena.

Beijing accused Lai of “leaning on the United States” and “colluding with external forces” to promote Taiwanese independence, while the PLA staged joint air and naval combat readiness patrols around the island on Saturday as a “warning to Taiwan separatists”.

PLA Eastern Theatre Command spokesman Senior Colonel Shi Yi said they were exercises to “seize maritime and airspace control” while testing “the capability of the command’s forces in coordinated operations and systematic confrontation”. They were conducted to the north and southwest of the island.