Speaking on the sidelines of a cross-strait forum in Zhengzhou, capital of Henan province, Liu Jieyi, head of the mainland-based Taiwan Affairs Office, criticised Taiwanese Premier William Lai for advocating independence for the self-ruled island, and warned that any attempts to achieve it would fail.military drills will be a move to safeguard our motherland’s sovereignty and integrity,” he said, when asked about the purpose of the exercise.Find the more China business news from SHINE.

“[The mainland] has enough willpower and capability to stop any attempt, in word or deed, to split any territory from the motherland.”Sources close to China’s military said the statement came after it was announced that Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen was planning to inspect her troops on Friday, a day after Chinese President Xi Jinping, who also chairs the powerful Central Military Commission, watched a massive display of the mainland’s naval strength in waters off Sanya, Hainan province.

Tsai’s visit to a naval base in Yilan county was her first official inspection of Taiwanese warships since taking office in May 2016.

“It seems like Tsai wants to have a contest with Xi,” said one of the sources, who requested anonymity.

“Beijing is very unhappy about the increasing interaction between Taipei and Washington, including the [White House’s] promise to help Taiwan build its own submarines, and the new rules encouraging top-level US officials to visit the island,” the person said.A second source, who also asked not to be identified, said that despite Beijing’s upset, the location for Wednesday’s live-fire drill had been carefully chosen so as not to cause concern in Washington.

The exercise would be staged about 45km (28 miles) from the Taiwan-controlled island of Quemoy, which is close to the coastline of mainland China, but more than 175km from the city of Taichung, on the island of Taiwan itself, he said.On Monday, Tsai told a visiting delegation from the American Enterprise Institute, a Washington-based think tank, that the recent exchanges between Taipei and Washington had enhanced the “strategic partnership between the US and Taiwan”.She also said that the White House allowing US defence contractors to supply the parts and technology Taiwan needs to build submarines would not only “help Taipei to strengthen its self-defence capabilities”, but also be a “great help to maintain the stability and prosperity of cross-strait relations”, according to the Taipei-based Central New Agency.

Mainland-based military expert Zhou Chenming, however, said that Tsai’s comments might serve to provoke Beijing into taking further action, and that Taipei “might have been too optimistic and overestimated its ties with the US”.