Beijing has said that they would serve as a strong punishment to what Beijing calls separatist acts and a warning against interference by external forces.

北京表示，這將是對北京所謂的分裂主義行為的有力懲罰，也是對外部勢力干涉的警告。

Taiwan has condemned the drills as irrational provocations that undermine regional peace.

臺灣譴責這些演習是破壞地區和平的無理挑釁。

China claims Taiwan is part of its territory and sees President Lei as pro-independence.

中國聲稱臺灣是其領土的一部分，並認為雷主席主張獨立。

Our China correspondent Stephen McDonald explains the significance of these drills.

本臺駐華記者斯蒂芬-麥克唐納（Stephen McDonald）解釋了這些演習的意義。

The People's Liberation Army has made it pretty clear that this is an exercise practicing the encirclement of Taiwan.

中國人民解放軍已經說得很清楚，這是一次包圍臺灣的演習。

All you have to do is look at the maps that they've provided.

您只需查看他們提供的地圖即可。

Go online, the PLA's put it up there, and you can see the zones where the exercises are happening are all around Taiwan, including some of the outlying islands.

上網看看，解放軍把它放在那裡，你可以看到演習的區域遍佈臺灣，包括一些離島。

And they're saying that they're also going to practice real combat readiness within the archipelago.

他們說，他們還將在群島內進行真正的戰備演練。

I don't know what that means in terms of where mainland forces will actually go during these exercises.

我不知道這對大陸部隊在這些演習中的實際去向意味著什麼。

But what it's a signal is that they're trying to say, if we wanted to, we could blockade So we could stop food and other materials getting in and eventually force the government there to its knees if we wanted to.

但這是一個信號，他們想說，如果我們願意，我們可以封鎖，我們可以阻止食物和其他物資進入，最終迫使那裡的政府屈服。

The other thing these exercises are doing is providing a dress rehearsal for an invasion.

這些演習的另一個作用是為入侵進行彩排。

I mean, there's amphibious landing craft involved, rocket forces are involved.

我是說，有兩棲登陸艇參與，有火箭部隊參與。

Taiwan's military has responded by saying they've put their own people on high alert.

臺灣軍方迴應說，他們已經讓自己的人民進入高度戒備狀態。

That includes Navy soldiers, their own air force, etc.

這包括海軍阿兵哥、本國空軍等。

But in a bit of a cheeky response from them, the Taiwan Defence Department said we're also going to use this time to very actively collect intelligence on the PLA.

但臺灣防務部門卻略帶挑釁回應說，我們也將利用這段時間非常積極地收集有關解放軍的情報。

So what they're saying is that, look, you know, if you think this is your dress rehearsal for an invasion, well, we're going to watch how you're going to do it.

是以，他們的意思是，聽著，如果你認為這是你入侵的彩排，那麼，我們會看著你怎麼做。

And this will enable us to be ready if and when the real time comes for you to attack us.

這將使我們做好準備，一旦時機成熟，你們就會攻擊我們。

For the mainland China, though, this is really about pressure, political pressure.

不過，對於中國大陸來說，這實際上是一種壓力，一種政治壓力。

It comes just days after the swearing in of Taiwan's new president, Lai Ching-de.

就在臺灣新總統賴清德宣誓就職幾天之後。

You know, there's all manner of political pressure going on already inside Taiwan with protests outside the parliament, the governing party doesn't have control of the legislature anymore.

你知道，臺灣內部已經出現了各種政治壓力，議會外有抗議活動，執政黨已經不再控制立法機構。

And for the Taiwanese government, what they have to do is to try and sort out this balancing act of being prepared enough militarily to try and fend off an attack from the PLA, but also not to anger the mainland too much to give them an excuse to actually do it.

而對於臺灣政府來說，他們要做的就是努力在軍事上做好足夠的準備，以抵禦解放軍的進攻，但同時又不能過分激怒大陸，給他們一個實際動手的藉口，從而在兩者之間取得平衡。

Now, of course, Taiwan can never match the military power of the PLA.

當然，臺灣的軍事實力永遠無法與解放軍相提並論。

But what they think they can do is have enough jets, enough submarines, enough soldiers to really put up huge cost on mainland China should Beijing try to take that island by force.

但他們認為自己可以做到的是，如果中國政府試圖武力奪島，他們有足夠的戰機、足夠的潛艇和足夠的阿兵哥來真正給中國大陸造成巨大損失。

So, you know, this would be a terrible, bloody war.

所以，你知道，這將是一場可怕的血腥戰爭。

And if you're going to do it, we're not going to make it easy for you.

如果你要這麼做，我們也不會讓你好受。

So the calculations in the mind, the Chinese government, is it worth doing this after all, given that we'd also be potentially in the wilderness economically for years to come afterwards?

是以，中國政府心中的盤算是，考慮到我們之後幾年在經濟上也可能會陷入困境，這樣做到底值不值得？

Either way, we're seeing tensions in the Taiwan Strait ratcheting up again, and it seems like this could be the pattern for years to come now.

無論如何，我們看到臺灣海峽的緊張局勢再次升級，而且這似乎可能是未來幾年的模式。