Taiwan says China drills more about intimidation, propaganda than starting war

TAIPEI — China's military drills last week were more about propaganda and intimidation than starting a war, but Chinese forces did show how they could react extremely quickly, the island's top security official said on May 29.

China said it carried out the two days of war games starting on May 23 as "punishment" for new President Lai Ching-te's inauguration speech last week, in which he said the two sides of the Taiwan Strait were "not subordinate to each other", which China viewed as a declaration the two are separate countries.

China views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory and has never renounced the use of force to bring the island under its control. Lai rejects China's sovereignty claims, saying only Taiwan's people can decide their future, and has repeatedly offered talks with Beijing but been rebuffed.

Speaking to reporters at parliament, Taiwan National Security Bureau Director-General Tsai Ming-yen said the aim of China's drills was not to go to war.

"The purpose of the military exercises was to intimidate, not to start a war," he said.

The drills were to show an external and domestic audience that Beijing "has absolute control over the situation in the Taiwan Strait", Tsai added.

Speaking in Beijing, spokesperson for China's Taiwan Affairs Office Fu Fenglian, reiterated its list of complaints about Lai being a dangerous supporter of Taiwan's formal independence, and threatened continued Chinese military activity.

The drills were a "just action to defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity", she said.

"As Taiwan's provocations for independence continue, the People's Liberation Army's actions to safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity continue."

The government in