China stages record drills designed to encircle Taiwan

BEIJING/TAIPEI – China launched its most extensive war games around Taiwan on Dec 29 to showcase its ability to cut off the island from outside support in a conflict, testing Taipei’s resolve to defend itself and its arsenal of American-made weapons.

The Eastern Theatre Command of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) said it had deployed troops, warships, fighter jets and artillery for its “Justice Mission 2025” exercises to encircle the democratically governed island, conduct live fire and simulated strikes on land and sea targets, and carry out drills to blockade Taiwan’s main ports.

The drills would continue on Dec 30 across a record seven zones designated by China’s Maritime Safety Administration, making them the largest to date by total coverage and in areas closer to Taiwan than previous exercises. The military had initially said artillery firing would be confined to five zones.

This marks China’s sixth major round of war games since 2022 after

then US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited the self-governed island

, and follows a rise in Chinese rhetoric over its territorial claims after Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi in November suggested that a hypothetical Chinese attack on Taiwan could

trigger a military response from Tokyo

.

Taiwan rejects China’s claimed sovereignty, maintaining that only its people can decide the island’s future.

“Our armed forces operate on the principle of preparing for the worst and must take every possible scenario into account,” Mr Hsieh Jih-sheng, deputy chief of the general staff for intelligence at Taiwan’s defence ministry, said, when asked about the drills. “Conducting live-fire exercises around the Taiwan Strait... would not only constitute military pressure on us, but could also pose more complex challenges and impacts for the international community and neighbouring countries.”

The exercises began 11 days after the

US announced US$11.1 billion (S$14.2 billion) in arms sales to Taiwan

, the largest-ever weapons package for the island, drawing a protest from China’s Defence Ministry and warnings that the military would “take forceful measures” in response.

Analysts say Beijing’s drills increasingly blur the line between routine military training exercises and what could be stage-setting for an attack, a strategy intended to give the US and its allies minimal warning of an assault.

The Chinese military also released a video depicting automated humanoid robots, microdrones and weaponised robotic dogs attacking the island, futuristic tech China has never showcased before.

Researcher Fu Zhengyuan from the Chinese military’s Academy of Military Science told state media the exercises were justified by concerns over increasing interoperability between Taiwanese and US combat systems, which he said raises the risk of a direct clash between the two superpowers.

Taiwan’s government condemned the drills, while its Defence Ministry posted a video on Facebook showcasing various weapons, including US-made HIMARS rocket systems, a highly mobile artillery system with a range of about 300km that could hit coastal targets in China’s southern province of Fujian, on the other side of the Taiwan Strait, in the event of a conflict.

Taiwan’s coast guard said it had dispatched large ships in reaction to Chinese coast guard activity near its waters and that it was working with the island’s military to minimise the drills’ impact on maritime routes and fishing areas.

The island’s aviation authority said China had designated a “temporary danger zone” in Taipei’s airspace for 10-hours of live-fire drills scheduled for Dec 30, and that it was working to identify alternative flight routes.

Rapid response

Taiwan’s Defence Ministry said 89 Chinese military aircraft, 14 military vessels and 14 coast guard boats were operating around the island on Dec 29, while four additional warships were also spotted in the Western Pacific. It said some of the Chinese vessels were engaged in stand-offs with Taiwanese ships near the island’s contiguous zone, defined as 24 nautical miles offshore.

The ministry said Taiwan’s military was on high alert and poised to carry out “rapid response exercises”, designed to move troops swiftly in case the drills turn into an attack.

Taiwan stock markets were unaffected by the drills, closing 0.9 per cent up.

“I think these drills are just meant to scare us,” said teacher Lin Wei-ming, 31, who is based in Taiwan’s capital Taipei. “Similar drills have happened before... the political side of things can only be handled by Taiwan’s current government and how they choose to respond.”

‘Smash the separatist scoundrels’

The Chinese military released a series of propaganda posters along with a graphic depicting four locations across the island with targets locking on, following the drill announcement.

China’s state broadcaster said the exercises would focus on sealing off Taiwan’s vital deep-water Keelung port to the island’s north and Kaohsiung to Taiwan’s south, the island’s largest port city.

Although the PLA had practised port blockades around Taiwan during war games in 2024, this marks the first time it has publicly stated that drills around the island are aimed at “deterrence” against outside military intervention.

The first poster appeared to show the armada of civilian ships China is mobilising to help in an attack on Taiwan, vessels with ramps and open decks that could be used to carry out an amphibious assault.

“Any foreign interference that touches the shield (of justice) shall perish!” the poster read. “Any separatist scoundrels who encounter the shield shall be destroyed!”
REUTERS