Xinhua News Agency, Nanjing, May 23 At 7:45 on May 23, the eastern theater of the Chinese People's Liberation Army was located in the Taiwan Strait, and the northern, southern and eastern parts of Taiwan Island, as well as around Jinmen Island, Mazu Island, Wuqiu Island and Dongyin Island, carried out joint exercises and training.
The eastern theater released the map of the "United Sword - 2024A" exercise area
The "Joint Sword 2024A" exercise was carried out around Weitai Island in the eastern theater
Lieutenant Colonel Li Xi, spokesman of the Eastern Theater of Operations, said that from May 23 to 24, the Eastern Theater of the Chinese People's Liberation Army organized troops from the army, navy, air force, rocket corps and other forces in the theater of operations, and carried out the "Joint Sword 2024A" exercise around Weitai Island, focusing on exercises such as joint air and sea combat readiness patrols, joint seizure of comprehensive battlefield control, and joint targeting of key targets, The warships and aircrafts approach the island and patrol around the island, and the island chain is integrated inside and outside to test the joint combat capability of the theater forces. This is also a strong punishment for the "Taiwan independence" secessionist forces seeking "independence" and a serious warning of interference and provocation by external forces.
Extended Reading
Media: Wang Yi and the spokesman of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the People's Republic of China have responded severely one after another, and Lai Qingde has made a big mistake
Direct news: Mr. Liu, what's your interpretation of Chen Binhua, spokesman of the National Taiwan Affairs Office, responding to Lai Qingde's "May 20" speech for the second time by answering questions from reporters?
Special commentator Liu Heping: I noticed that just after Lai Qingde's "May 20" speech, the Taiwan Affairs Office and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China immediately responded, and Wang Yi, member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, took the opportunity to attend the meeting of foreign ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and made a stern response. To the surprise of the outside world, a day later, Chen Binhua, spokesman of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, once again launched a fierce attack on Lai Qingde's "May 20" speech. From this, we can not only see the mainland's counterattack on Lai Qingde's "May 20" speech, but also see in turn how big the mess Lai Qingde made this time.
In particular, I found that compared with all the previous statements of the mainland on the Taiwan issue, Chen Binhua's re response to Lai Qingde's "May 20" speech gave a refreshing feeling of being unconventional, daring to break the tradition. Specifically, first, unlike previous mainland criticisms of the erroneous statements of "Taiwan independence" elements, Chen Binhua generally only made principled responses. This time, for Lai Qingde's "May 20" speech, Chen Binhua made specific criticisms item by item, even word by word, and each one was putting facts and reasoning; Secondly, in the comment on the day of "May 20", I said that Lai Qingde's "May 20" speech adopted the obscene way of evading words and trying to cover up when expressing the intention of "Taiwan independence". Normally, since you are careless, the mainland will only respond in principle when responding. However, Chen Binhua rarely uncovered the fig leaf carefully prepared by Lai Qingde for himself this time, and spread them out in the sun one by one. Even the words "the Republic of China" and "Taiwan of the Republic of China" used by Lai Qingde did not shy away. In my opinion, this is very necessary. There is an idiom in China called "aim at the target". Only by exposing these problems in the sun can we carry out targeted disclosure, criticism and counterattack; Third, compared with the past, Chen Binhua's "return shot" is not only more accurate, but also more powerful. In a more popular way, it is more tough, which makes people feel very relieved.
The picture shows Taipei's 101 Building. Chen Binhua characterized Lai Qingde's remarks as "Taiwan independence confession"
Direct News: In your opinion, what specific and targeted counter attacks did Chen Binhua, the spokesman of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, make against Lai Qingde's "May 20" speech?
Special commentator Liu Heping: First of all, we know that in the response on the day of "May 20", Chen Binhua characterized Lai Qingde's speech as a propaganda of the "Taiwan independence" position and the fallacy of division, while in yesterday's "anti war", Chen Binhua characterized it simply as Lai Qingde's "Taiwan independence confession". I think these four words are very concise and precise, because Lai Qingde's "Taiwan independence" speech in his "May 20" speech does not mean that 60% of Taiwan's people did not vote for him, and I'm afraid that it does not fully represent those who support the Democratic Progressive Party.
Secondly, Chen Binhua said that the "May 20" speech "was extremely aggressive and advocated more radical". Obviously, this is the conclusion drawn by comparing with Cai Yingwen, Lai Qingde's predecessor. Because Lai Qingde not only inherited Tsai Ing wen's previous "Taiwan independence" propositions such as "the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China are not subordinate to each other" and "Taiwan of the Republic of China is a sovereign and independent country", but also more "tolerable, which is intolerable", Lai Qingde also publicly cried out the statement that "Taiwan is also the name of our country". If Tsai Ing wen's remarks are "covert Taiwan independence" and "disguised Taiwan independence", Lai Qingde's statement that "Taiwan is also the name of our country" is an open and naked "Taiwan independence confession".
Third, in the face of Lai Qingde's "May 20" speech, "maintaining the status quo of Taiwan Strait relations", Chen Binhua also made a tit for tat refutation. Lai Qingde often talks about the so-called "status quo of the Taiwan Strait", which means that "the status quo of the Taiwan Strait means that Taiwan is already a sovereign and independent country, so there is no need to declare independence". Chen Binhua pointed out that the mainland and Taiwan belong to one China, and Taiwan is a part of China, which is the real situation of the Taiwan Strait. In my opinion, Lai Qingde's "Taiwan Strait Status Quo" is not only against the Charter of the United Nations, but also against the recognition of Taiwan as a part of China by most countries in the world. Even the so-called "diplomatic relations" in the island also recognize one China, and also against the basic laws and systems in the island. On the contrary, what Chen Binhua said about the current situation of the Taiwan Strait is not only in line with international law, but also in line with China's domestic law.
Fourth, as for Lai Qingde's so-called "Taiwan residents' self-determination" theory, which advocates that "the future of Taiwan, the Republic of China, is jointly decided by 23 million people", Chen Binhua pointedly proposed that the future of Taiwan must be jointly decided by more than 1.4 billion Chinese people, including Taiwan compatriots. Here, I would like to point out that the "Taiwan independence" elements led by Lai Qingde seem to believe that the future of Taiwan should be "self determined" by them as a matter of course, which is "in line with the so-called international law", and thus deceive many unknown people. However, this is only an understanding of the relevant international law, which is based on partial generalizations and taken out of context. The relevant international law also stipulates that "residents' self-determination" must be approved by the central government of the country where they live. Just as the British government does not agree, Scotland cannot hold an independent referendum, and the Canadian government does not agree, Quebec cannot hold an independent referendum. In the context of the overwhelming majority of mainland people firmly opposed to "Taiwan independence", Beijing would never allow Taiwan to carry out the so-called "self-determination of residents".
Fifth, in the face of Lai Qingde's "May 20" speech advocating to build "Taiwan of the world", Chen Binhua put forward the "Taiwan of China" theory tit for tat. In my opinion, compared with Lai Qingde's statement, Chen Binhua's "Taiwan of China" statement is truly in line with the reality of international politics and the relevant provisions of international law, and also in line with the current economic reality that Taiwan's economy is highly dependent on the mainland.
Direct news: In response to Lai Qingde's "May 20" speech, Chen Binhua also said that we must counter and punish the DPP authorities for their "independence" provocation in collusion with external forces. How do you interpret this?
Special commentator Liu Heping: I think Chen Binhua's statement is the latest and most powerful one issued by the mainland since the "May 20". Because in the response of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the People's Republic of China and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on May 20, more people expressed their opposition in principle, and did not say that they would "counter attack" and "punish".
Chen Binhua made a statement on Lai Qingde's "May 20" speech
So how should we "counter" and "punish"? Chen Binhua actually made a further response in the second half of the sentence. Chen Binhua said that the leaders of the Taiwan region incited the sentiment of "anti China and anti China" and tried to "seek independence by force", which would only push Taiwan into a dangerous situation of war and war and bring serious disasters to the majority of Taiwan compatriots. The subtext behind this is that military pressure and military response are absolutely one of the options.
Of course, we should also see that at the end of this "Re response", Chen Binhua also reiterated that whatever Lai Qingde said or said could not change the status and fact that Taiwan is a part of China, the basic pattern and development direction of cross-strait relations, or the common desire of compatriots on both sides of the Taiwan Straits to get closer and closer. So, how do we look at this statement? Does it contradict Chen Binhua's statement that Lai Qingde should be "countered" and "punished"?
In my opinion, this is not contradictory. Because first, it is in line with the "two handed strategy" of the "soft one hand and hard one hand" of the Taiwan policy that the Chinese mainland has long pursued, that is, we should resolutely crack down on "Taiwan independence" elements, but we should firmly adhere to the basic principle of "pinning our hopes on the Taiwanese people to never waver" in the face of the majority of Taiwan people; Second, it shows that the mainland has realized that Lai Qingde's radical "Taiwan independence" speech in the "May 20" speech only represents a small part of the "Taiwan independence" forces in the island, does not represent 60% of the majority of Taiwan's people who did not vote for Lai Qingde and the Democratic Progressive Party, nor does it represent the Kuomintang and the People's Party. Therefore, the mainland will replace the minority "Taiwan independence" led by Lai Qingde The elements make a political cut with the majority of Taiwan's people, as well as the Kuomintang and the People's Party; Third, Chen Binhua believes that Lai Qingde's "May 20" speech will not change the basic pattern and development direction of cross-strait relations, mainly because the latest poll in the island shows that the number of Taiwan people who "broadly agree to maintain the status quo of the Taiwan Strait" has risen sharply from about 70% in the past to about 90%. This is the strength of Chen Binhua's judgment; Fourth, I believe that this also reflects the difference between strategy and tactics, as well as short-term and long-term strategies when the mainland deals with the Taiwan issue. In the short term and tactically, after the radical "Taiwan independence" element Lai Qingde came to power, the mainland will focus on curbing "Taiwan independence", but in the long term and strategically, the mainland will maintain strategic determination and firmly implement the "New Era Party's overall strategy to solve the Taiwan problem".
Author Liu Heping, a special commentator of Shenzhen Satellite TV's Live Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan
