Scheduled military drill, but it still sends a message

Even though the Ministry of Defense announced on Sunday that a People's Liberation Army exercise in the water and air space off the southeast coast should be regarded as a routine arrangement according to the annual plan of the Chinese military, it is understandable that some have interpreted it as a message of deterrence to Taiwan secessionists, given how tense cross-Straits relations have become.

Indeed, the situation across the Taiwan Straits has continually worsened in recent months as the island's leader Tsai Ing-wen and her followers have been persistently poking the Chinese mainland's most sensitive nerve - that of sovereignty and territorial integrity - through various tricks.

Last week, Tsai staged a stopover farce in the United States on her way to visiting four Caribbean countries, which the island's pro-independence Green camp elatedly called a "major diplomatic breakthrough".