KEY POINTS:
- China has launched military drills to intimidate Taiwan after President Tsai Ing-wen's US visit angered Beijing.
- The drills include patrols around Taiwan and deployment of fighter jets and missiles.
- China considers Taiwan part of its territory and opposes official contact between Taipei and foreign governments.
China has launched three days of military drills intended to intimidate self-ruled Taiwan after President Tsai Ing-wen's visit to the United States angered Beijing.
Here are some key questions and answers about China's "Joint Sword" operation:
What are they doing?
The Chinese military has deployed ships, fighter jets and missiles in the sea around Taiwan to send a "serious warning against Taiwan independence separatist forces", according to state media.
The drills, which began on Saturday, include patrols around the island and the rehearsal of "simulated joint precision strikes against key targets" as well as an "encirclement and deterrence posture" around Taiwan.
"Dozens" of J-18 and J-10C fighter jets have been deployed in the operation, alongside anti-submarine aircraft, according to the official CCTV.
Soldiers loading missiles onto vehicles during a military drill at an unspecified location in China. Source: AAP, AP / AP
Taiwan's defence ministry said as many as nine Chinese warships had been detected around the island on Saturday.
What does China want?
Despite Taiwan having been ruled separately for more than 70 years, China's communist government considers the island part of its territory and .
Beijing bristles at any official contact between Taipei and foreign governments, including a recent trip by Ms Tsai to the US, where she met US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and a delegation of politicians from the Republican and Democratic parties.
China's foreign ministry said earlier this week it would take "resolute and effective measures" against the visit.
The ongoing exercises are "part of a broader pattern of pressure targeting Taiwan", said Ja Ian Chong, an associate professor of political science at the National University of Singapore.
But "major visits enable Beijing to pin the blame on Taipei, Washington or others", Mr Chong told the AFP news agency.
Why now?
Ms Tsai arrived in California on Tuesday, but .
The Chinese leadership has been in a delicate position this week with French President Emmanuel Macron and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and President Xi Jinping angling to warm up relations with Europe.
James Char, China researcher at Singapore's Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies, told AFP Beijing had likely waited for the departure of European dignitaries before it launched its show of force as "Beijing has been trying to re-engage with the West".
Initiating military operations over Taiwan "will be detrimental to this ongoing diplomatic overture", he said.
Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen (left) recently travelled to the US where she met with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (right). Source: AAP, AP / Ringo H.W. Chiu
What other measures is Beijing taking?
China this week also announced new sanctions on Taipei's representative to the United States as well as two US organisations, in retaliation for Ms Tsai's trip.
Beijing says it will ban Taiwan's de facto ambassador to Washington, Hsiao Bi-Khim, from entering China, and has accused her of "deliberately inciting cross-strait confrontation".
It has also blocked the Hudson Institute, a Washington-based conservative think tank, as well as the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, from engaging in transactions and cooperation with Chinese entities for hosting Ms Tsai this week.
How does this compare with previous drills?
China's response this weekend echoes its fury over .
At the time, Beijing held live-fire military drills around 20 kilometres off Taiwan's shore in what state media called an effort to "seal off Taiwan" that lasted for around a week, while Chinese customs authorities suspended imports of fruit and fish from the island.
This time, Beijing is conducting live-fire drills off the coast of China's Fujian province, about 80 kilometres south of Taiwan's Matsu Islands.
The latest drills seem "not of the same scale as we saw during Pelosi's visit", said Manoj Kewalramani, China expert at the Takshashila Institution in Bengaluru, India.
Taiwan Air Force Mirage 2000 fighter jets prepare to take off inside the airbase in Hsinchu, Taiwan, on Sunday. Source: AAP, EPA / Ritchie B. Tongo
China's priorities may also have shifted slightly, according to Su Tzu-yun, a military expert at Taiwan's Institute for National Defence and Security Research.
After a severe economic blow from , "the restoration of air and sea routes around Taiwan this year is very important to neighbouring countries and China's own economic recovery, so the intensity of military drills should not increase again", Mr Su told AFP.
Last year's drills disrupted shipping and air traffic in major shipping lanes around Taiwan.
Mr Su said he believed the ongoing drills were "internal propaganda" aimed at countering domestic criticism that earlier Chinese actions were too weak.
