Chinese War Games Rehearse Taiwan Blockade in ‘Warning’ Against ‘External Interference’

(Screengrab via X)

China launched sweeping live-fire military drills encircling Taiwan Monday in the blockade rehearsal of the island’s key ports and explicitly testing its ability to deter foreign intervention.

The People’s Liberation Army said naval, air force and rocket units were deployed around the island, alongside Chinese coast guard vessels conducting what Beijing described as “law enforcement inspections” near Taiwan’s outer islands.

According to the BBC, the exercise, named Justice Mission 2025, was billed by China’s eastern theatre command as “a stern warning against ‘Taiwan independence’ separatist forces and external interference forces.”

“It is a legitimate and necessary action to safeguard China’s sovereignty and national unity,” said the command’s spokesperson, Col Shi Yi.

Taipei condemned the drills as destabilizing and accused China of escalating military pressure under the guise of routine exercises. Taiwan’s defence ministry said it had dispatched “appropriate forces” and launched counter-combat readiness drills in response.

“Defending democracy and freedom is no provocation, and the existence of the Republic of China [Taiwan’s formal name] is not an excuse for aggressors to disrupt the status quo,” the ministry said.

Taiwan’s coast guard warned that the drills “pose a significant threat to the navigational safety of vessels in Taiwan’s waters and to the operational rights of fishermen,” highlighting the economic as well as military risks of a simulated blockade.

The drills also come weeks after Washington’s approval of $11 billion in new arms sales to Taipei and recent speeches by Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te, pledging to boost defenses and achieve a “high level of combat preparedness” by 2027.

In announcing the exercise, China’s eastern theatre command said: “The vessels and aircraft will approach the Taiwan Island in close proximity from different directions to test the capabilities of the troops to conduct rapid manoeuvres, form all-dimensional posture, and execute systemic blockade and control.”

State media released stylized propaganda videos and maps marking exclusion zones to the north, northwest, and south of Taiwan, some closer to the main island than in previous drills.

Justice Mission 2025 is the sixth major PLA exercise aimed at Taiwan since 2022.