China Launches War Games Around Taiwan

(CNA) China staged live-fire drills around Taiwan on Monday (Dec 29), deploying troops, warships, fighter jets and artillery for its Justice Mission 2025 exercises, as the island scrambled soldiers and showcased United States-made hardware to rehearse repelling an attack.

The Eastern Theatre Command said it had concentrated forces to the north and southwest of the Taiwan Strait and carried out live firing and simulated strikes on land and maritime targets. The drills would continue on Tuesday and include exercises to blockade the island's main ports and encircle it.

A senior Taiwan security official told Reuters that dozens of Chinese military boats and aircraft were operating around the island, some of which were "deliberately closing in" on Taiwan's contiguous zone, defined as 24 nautical miles (around 44km) from its coast.

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 Beijing's ‍territorial claims after Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi suggested a hypothetical Chinese attack on Taiwan could trigger a military response from Tokyo.

The drills began 11 days after the US announced US$11.1 billion in arms sales to Taiwan, the largest ever weapons package for the island, drawing a protest from China's defence ministry and warnings 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.

China's military said it had deployed fighter jets, bombers, unmanned aerial vehicles, and long-range rockets, and would practice striking mobile land-based targets while simulating a coordinated assault on the island from multiple directions.

"This (the drills) serves as a serious warning to 'Taiwan Independence' separatist forces and external interference forces," said Shi Yi, a spokesperson for China's Eastern Theatre Command.

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 added that 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 Tuesday and that it was working to identify alternative flight routes.