China slams Taiwan Han Kuang drills as 'wasteful charade'
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- China's defence ministry on Aug 14 dismissed Taiwan's Han Kuang military drills as a "wasteful charade" that stoked war panic, in Beijing's first official comment on the exercises since they began last week.
- Chen Xi, China's defence ministry spokesperson, accused Taiwan's ruling Democratic Progressive Party of "recklessly" stoking war panic and turning cities into battlefields.
- Taiwan's Han Kuang exercises rehearsed scenarios for a potential Chinese attack, including breaking a maritime blockade and, for the first time, slowing mobile internet.
- The People's Liberation Army remains on high alert and is continuously enhancing real-combat capabilities to "counter separatism and external interference," Chen said.
- China has never renounced the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control but says it prefers "peaceful reunification"; Taiwan says only its people can decide their future.
- The Chinese military operates almost daily in the skies and waters around Taiwan.
Why it matters: Beijing's dismissal comes against a backdrop of daily PLA operations around Taiwan — Taipei rehearses scenarios it hopes never to use while Beijing normalizes the pressure it threatens to escalate. By singling out the DPP by name, Chen's statement recasts routine democratic governance as provocation, narrowing the political space for any Taipei administration to scale back drills without appearing to appease Beijing.
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