"It is regrettable to see China adopting unilateral and provocative military behavior, which threatens Taiwan's democracy and freedom, as well as regional peace and stability," Taiwan's presidential office spokesperson, Karen Kuo, said in a statement. "In the face of external challenges and threats, we will continue to defend democracy," she stressed. China on Thursday surrounded Taiwan with military ships and aircraft in maneuvers presented by Beijing as punishment for Lai and the island's pro-independence forces. The exercises come three days after Lai's inaugural address, in which he said that Beijing must "face the reality of the existence of the Republic of China," Taiwan's official name. The territory of 23 million people operates as a sovereign political entity, with its own diplomacy and army, although it is not officially independent. Beijing considers the island to be a province of its own, which must be reunified, by force if necessary. Beijing thus considered that Lai's speech promoted "separatist fallacies" and "incited confrontation and hostility" between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait. The maneuvers began at 07:45 today (00:45 in Lisbon) and should last until Friday, said Li Xi, spokesman for the Chinese army's eastern theater of operations, in a statement. The operations are taking place "in the Taiwan Strait, north, south and east of the island of Taiwan, as well as in the areas around the islands of Kinmen, Matsu, Wuqiu and Dongyin," reads the same note. These last islands are located in the immediate vicinity of the eastern Chinese coast. Speaking to Chinese state television CCTV, Zhang Chi, a professor at the National Defense University in Beijing, said the maneuvers aim to "impose an economic blockade on the island," strangling the port of Kaohsiung, in southern Taiwan, which is of strategic importance. . This blockade would make it possible to cut off "energy imports that are vital to Taiwan" and "block the support that some US allies are giving to Taiwan's 'independence' forces," Zhang said. Read Also: China's military maneuvers are "provocations and irrational actions" (Portuguese version)