China launches large-scale military drills around Taiwan

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The Chinese People’s Liberation Army on Monday announced large-scale military drills around Taiwan, in what a spokesperson said was a “stern warning” to the autonomous, democratically ruled island.

A map released by the PLA showed operations in five areas encircling Taiwan, including in the northern part of the Taiwan Strait, one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes.

A statement said air, rocket, army and naval-force troops had been dispatched to take part in the drills, code-named “Justice Mission 2025,” with the bulk of exercises due to take place Tuesday.

Senior Colonel Shi Yi, spokesperson for the PLA Eastern Theatre Command, said Beijing was sending a “stern warning against ‘Taiwan independence’ separatist forces,” adding that the drills were a “legitimate and necessary action to safeguard China’s sovereignty and national unity.”

Ruled separately from China’s mainland since the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949, and independent for much of its history, Taiwan is nevertheless claimed by Beijing as an integral part of its territory and China has threatened to annex it by force.

Under President Xi Jinping, as public opinion in Taiwan has moved decisively against any unification with China, Beijing has ramped up diplomatic and military pressure against Taipei. It has picked off Taiwan’s few official allies, excluded its government from international fora, and staged aerial, naval and missile drills around the island.

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Recent months have been particularly tense after Beijing reacted furiously to comments by new Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi that Tokyo would regard any invasion of Taiwan as an “existential threat,” that could justify the deployment of Japan’s Self-Defence Forces.

Weeks of intense pressure and boycotts did nothing to shake Tokyo’s resolve however, and eventually prompted Washington, which had largely stayed out of the dispute amid efforts to improve relations with China, to publicly state its support for close ally Japan.

This was followed by a record US$10-billion arms sale to Taiwan, including medium-range missiles, howitzers and drones. The arms are similar to what the U.S. has previously provided Ukraine, with many in Taiwan seeing that country’s resistance as a potential model for any future defence against a Chinese invasion.

Speaking to a Taiwanese broadcaster Sunday, the island’s leader, William Lai, said if Beijing was considering invasion, “then we have only one choice: to keep raising the difficulty.”

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“Crossing the sea is itself a difficult challenge,” Mr. Lai said. “When Russia invaded Ukraine, it simply drove tanks in directly.”

He warned that Taiwan “cannot be complacent” and must continue to build up its defence capabilities – a scenario many have described as “Porcupine Taiwan” – while reiterating Taipei’s commitment to maintaining the peaceful status quo that has lasted for more than seven decades.

China’s Foreign Ministry denounced the U.S. arms sale, saying Taipei was “squandering the hard-earned money of the people to purchase weapons at the cost of turning Taiwan into a powder keg.”

“This cannot save the doomed fate of ‘Taiwan independence’ but will only accelerate the push of the Taiwan Strait toward a dangerous situation of military confrontation and war,” spokesperson Guo Jiakun said.

“The U.S. support for ‘Taiwan Independence’ through arms will only end up backfiring. Using Taiwan to contain China will not succeed.”

A graphic released by the PLA on Monday appeared to reference this, showing two large shields emblazoned with the Great Wall of China on top of a map of Taiwan, warning that “any external interference that touches the shield will lead to destruction!”

While the PLA has practised blockading missions in the past, this is the first time it has explicitly referenced deterring outside intervention as part of a drill.