China flexes blockade capabilities near Taiwan
China’s People’s Liberation Army staged a second day of large-scale military drills around Taiwan on Tuesday, unleashing a live-fire show of force as part of what it called “Justice Mission 2025” to demonstrate its ability to deter any external armed support for the self-ruled island that it has long insisted is part of its sovereign territory. The PLA’s Eastern Theatre Command sent destroyers, frigates, fighters and bombers to the waters to the north and south of the island to test its ability in sea-air coordination and blockading.
Its ground forces carried out long-range, live-fire drills in the waters to the island’s north, and achieved what command spokesperson Li Xi called “desired effects”. The maneuvers increased tension around the Taiwan Strait as 2025 drew to a close, but the impact extended beyond military pressure into everyday life. Taiwan’s Civil Aviation Administration was notified that seven temporary “dangerous zones” had been set up around the strait, affecting international and domestic air travellers.
It was not immediately clear whether that involved flight cancellations as opposed to delays. Xinhua, China’s official news agency, posted a commentary late Monday saying the drills sent an unequivocal message: That Beijing is always ready to prevent anything that tries to split Taiwan from China. Each escalation, it said, would be met with stronger countermeasures.
“By currying favour with the United States through obsequious loyalty gestures and promoting arms purchases, the DPP is binding the entire island of Taiwan to its catastrophic secessionist chariot, disregarding public opinion,” it wrote, referring to Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party.
Taiwan’s Defence Ministry said it had detected 130 aircraft, including fighters and bombers, 14 military ships and eight other official ships around the island between 6 am Monday. Its forces kept monitoring the development and deployed aircraft, navy ships and coastal missile systems in response. Ninety of the Chinese aircraft crossed the median line of the strait and entered Taiwan’s “air defence identification zone”.
A Chinese balloon was also spotted, it said. It said the PLA long-range artillery unit in Fujian, a southeastern Chinese province, fired live rounds toward a target zone north of the island, with impact zones scattered around the line, 44 kilometers (27 miles) off its coast. Taiwan’s Defence Minister Wellington Koo said the Chinese troops’ actions were highly provocative, undermined regional stability and posed security threats and disruptions to passing ships, trade activities and flight routes.
China claims the island off its southeastern coast as sovereign territory and has vowed to seize it, by force if necessary. Chinese Defence Ministry spokesperson Zhang Xiaogang said the drills served as a stern warning to “Taiwan independence” separatist forces and external forces, without naming any countries.
