By Ben Blanchard
KAOHSIUNG, Taiwan (Reuters) – Taiwan President Lai Ching-te offered his support and encouragement to the armed forces on Friday ahead of what the government has warned could be a new round of Chinese military exercises near the island from as early as next week.
Taiwan cannot rule out that China will hold more military drills to “stir up trouble” around Tuesday’s one-year anniversary of Lai taking office, a senior government spokesperson said on Thursday in Taipei.
China calls Lai a “separatist” and has rebuffed his multiple offers for talks. Lai rejects China’s sovereignty claims over the democratic and entirely separately governed island, saying only Taiwan’s people can decide their future.
Lai visited army engineers and anti-submarine helicopter crews at bases in the southern city of Kaohsiung to thank them for their efforts before the traditional Dragon Boat festival at the end of the month.
Both the army engineers and the navy’s anti-submarine aviation command are the “cornerstones of the nation’s armed forces’ military strength, and also indispensable to the overall national defence strategy”, he told a group of helicopter crew at a lunch at Kaohsiung’s Zuoying navy base.
“It is only because of your hard work and dedication that the military continues to thrive and the nation’s people can live and work in peace and happiness,” he added. “Let’s work together to protect national security.”
Lai, who made no direct mention of China or potential for more drills, was accompanied by Defence Minister Wellington Koo and National Security Council Secretary-General Joseph Wu, two of his most senior defence officials.
China’s Defence Ministry and Taiwan Affairs Office said this week that Lai was a “Taiwan Strait crisis maker” who had increased antagonism and confrontation and undermined peace and stability.
Last month, China held war games code-named “Strait Thunder-2025A” around Taiwan, the “A” at its end suggesting there could be more to come.
China called its May 2024 drills “Joint Sword – 2024A”, held shortly after Lai took office, and in October of that year staged “Joint Sword – 2024B”.
(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)
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