SHANGHAI, May 23. /TASS/. The Chinese army is practicing various scenarios during exercises near Taiwan to test real combat capabilities, including strikes on targets on land and at sea, Senior Colonel Li Xi, the spokesperson for the Eastern Theater Command, said on the WeChat messenger.

"On May 23, the forces of the PLA's Eastern Theater Command successively conducted exercises to practice strikes against sea and land targets and anti-submarine warfare in the sea and air space east and south of Taiwan," the statement reads. Li said the drills were aimed at testing the actual combat capabilities and coordination of the PLA's Eastern Theater Command forces.

China on Thursday launched the Joint Sword 2024A exercises near Taiwan, which will be held on May 23-24. They are intended to serve as a "serious warning" to separatist forces seeking to isolate the island from the mainland.

According to China Central Television, the destabilization of the situation and increased tensions in the Taiwan Strait were triggered by a speech of Taiwan's new chief executive, Lai Ching-te at his inauguration ceremony on Monday.

Taiwan has been governed by its own administration since 1949, when the remnants of the Kuomintang forces led by Chiang Kai-shek (1887-1975) fled there after their defeat in the Chinese Civil War. Since then, the island has retained the flag and some other attributes of the former Republic of China that existed on the mainland before the Communists came to power. Official Beijing considers Taiwan a province of the People’s Republic of China.