'Closing In': China Launches Massive Military Drills Around Taiwan, Labels President Lai a ‘Parasite’

The Chinese military launched large-scale drills in the waters around Taiwan on Tuesday, as it warned the self-ruled island against seeking independence.

The joint exercises involve navy, air ground and rocket forces, according to Shi Yi, a spokesperson for the People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command.

The drills are meant to be a “severe warning and forceful containment against Taiwan independence,” Shi said in a statement.

Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defence said it had tracked 19 Chinese navy vessels in the waters surrounding the island in a 24-hour period. 

The Chinese military's Eastern Theater Command -- which oversees operations along the Taiwan Strait -- shared a graphic with the title "closing in".

It showed ships and fighter jets surrounding the island, warning "Taiwan separatists" were "Courting Disaster Upon Themselves". Another graphic shared by the military depicted Lai as an insect being roasted over an open fire.

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A video titled "Shell", and depicting Lai Ching-Te as a cartoon bug held by a pair of chopsticks above a burning Taiwan, was on the Eastern Theater Command's WeChat page. "Parasite poisoning Taiwan island. Parasite hollowing Island out. Parasite courting ultimate destruction," the animation said.

China considers Taiwan a part of its territory, to be brought under its control by force if necessary, while most Taiwanese favor their de facto independence and democratic status.

Beijing sends warplanes and navy vessels toward the island on a daily basis, seeking to wear down Taiwanese defenses and morale, although the vast majority of the island’s 23 million people reject its claim of sovereignty over Taiwan.

The dispute between China and Taiwan dates back to 1949 when Chiang Kai-shek's Kuomintang nationalist forces fled to Taiwan after losing the Chinese civil war with Mao Zedong's communist fighters.

Communist China has never ruled Taiwan, where indigenous tribes have lived for thousands of years. The island was partly or totally ruled at various times by the Dutch, Spanish, China's Qing dynasty and Japan.