China launches military drills around Taiwan, calls its president a "parasite"

1/4/2025 11:54

China's military on Tuesday said it had begun joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence", calling Taiwan's President Lai Ching-Te a "parasite".



The exercises around the democratically governed island, which China views as its own territory and has never renounced the use of force to bring under its control, come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month.



China detests Lai as a "separatist," and in a video accompanying the Eastern Theater Command's announcement of the drills depicted him as cartoon bug held by a pair of chopsticks above a burning Taiwan.



The Eastern Theater Command said on its official WeChat social media account, "The focus is on exercises such as combat readiness patrols at sea and in the air, seizing comprehensive control, striking maritime and land targets, and imposing blockade controls on key areas and routes."



Taiwan's Defence Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday that China's Shandong aircraft carrier group had entered the island's response area on Monday, adding that it had dispatched military aircraft and ships and activated land-based missile systems in response.