China and Taiwan are waging war online with these dueling military propaganda videos
- The Chinese and Taiwanese militaries have released dueling propaganda videos over the past two days.
- The People's Liberation Army video - "My War Eagles Are Flying Around The Treasured Island" - called for reunification while showing clips of Chinese fighter jets conducting encirclement drills around Taiwan.
- Taiwan's military responded with a video of its own - titled "Freedom Isn't Free" - showing its armed forces preparing to repel an invasion.
Mainland China made a video of its fighter jets flying around Taiwan, so Taiwan returned fire with a video of its forces preparing to a repel a Chinese invasion.
The People's Liberation Army Air Force released a music video titled "My War Eagles Are Flying Around The Treasured Island" on Sunday. The upbeat video released ahead of the Chinese New Year calls for reunification with Taiwan, a priority for the Chinese military.
Taiwan has formally protested. "This approach aims at reunifying Taiwan with force and will only have counterproductive results as Taiwanese will find it repulsive and distasteful," Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council argued in a statement on the matter.
Watch Mainland China's video below:
In addition to the sharp rebuke, Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense released its own video, a 90-second video named "Freedom Isn't Free" that features clips from last year's military exercises.
"Many men and women serving in the armed forces will miss New Year's Eve dinners with their families, but they will not be absent from standing on guards to protect the country," the ministry said in its statement on Facebook.
"Our resolve to protect every inch of the nation's territory has never wavered, our constant efforts to strengthen the military's combat ability has never changed."
Watch Taiwan's response video here:
In an earlier address, Chinese President Xi Jinping refused to rule out the use of force to secure the reunification of Taiwan. Shortly thereafter, a Chinese general warned a top US admiral that "if anyone wants to separate Taiwan from China, the Chinese military will safeguard the national unity at all costs so as to protect China's sovereignty and territorial integrity."
The Chinese military regularly conducts so-called "encirclement drills" around Taiwan, a self-ruled democratic territory that Beijing perceives as a renegade province.