Major Chinese Military Activity Following Election Surfaces in Taiwan's Reports

Following Taiwan's election, the defense ministry reported detecting Chinese air force planes and warships around the island.

[UPDATE] Taiwan Election 2024: China Condemns US for Congratulating New Taiwanese President, Claims It's Violation — Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate, Lai Ching-te, speaks on the stage during a campaign rally on December 21, 2023 in Yilan, Taiwan. Presidential election hopeful, Lai Ching-te, of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), starts his four-day campaign tour around Taiwan. Annabelle Chih/Getty Images

In a recent article from Reuters, Taiwan's defense ministry stated that it has sighted 18 Chinese air force jets around Taiwan in addition to what has been described as "Joint combat readiness patrols" with Chinese warships on Wednesday. This was immediately following Taiwan's recent election of Lai Ching-te of the Democratic Progressive Party(DPP) on Saturday. Ching himself has been on the receiving end of some of Beijing's comments that have referred to him as a dangerous separatist and bringer of war.

Taiwan's defense ministry has also stated that 11 of the 18 jets have crossed the Taiwan Strait Median line. However, China does not recognize the existence of said line. In response to these operations, the ministry has sent its forces to observe.

In a statement, the Ministry said "The security and prosperity of the Taiwan Strait region are closely related to global development and stability, and are obligations and responsibilities that all parties in the region must share. The Ministry went on to reveal that, "The military will continue to strengthen its self-defence capabilities in accordance with enemy threats and self-defence needs, and respond to regional threats ". The Chinese defense ministry has not made any comments regarding this statement at the time of writing.

What's Next?

Lai will be taking office on May 20^th this year and has reached out to China on multiple occasions to no avail. While expressing a commitment to preserving peace and stability in the Strait, he has emphasized that the future of Taiwan should be determined solely by its people.

Before it attacked Ukrainian territory, the Russian military was seen doing military exercises along the border. However, it remains unclear whether China intends to take a similar route but it is clear that Taiwan is dedicated to maintaining its independence with this election being a significant representation of said independence. However, on Wednesday China's Taiwan affairs office went on record stating that Beijing would not renounce its efforts using force to bring Taiwan under its control and that said force was aimed at interference from foreigners and a small amount of separatists. Even going on record to "crush" the territory's independence as the election was being held.