China carries out a second day of military drills and war games near Taiwan, including simulated attacks on critical objectives.
On Wednesday, part of the operation named “Strait Thunder-2025A”, exercises took place in the central and southern parts of the Taiwan Strait, as well as in the East China Sea, the military announced.
“Long-range live-fire drills” were conducted to practice targeting “simulated objectives of key ports and energy installations” during the exercises, as stated by the military.
The goal was to “assess the troops’ capabilities” in areas including “blockade and control, as well as precise strikes on key targets”, according to Senior Colonel Shi Yi, spokesperson of the Chinese military’s Eastern Theatre Command.
China’s Shandong aircraft carrier was also involved in the drills, to test the capacity to “blockade” Taiwan by integrating naval and air power, the Eastern Theatre Command stated.
China’s military released a video purportedly showing the live-fire drills, featuring rockets being launched and hitting onshore targets, as well as an animation depicting explosions over Taiwanese cities such as Tainan, Hualien, and Taichung, all of which house military installations and ports.
Taiwan’s President William Lai Ching-te denounced the drills, while the island’s defense ministry reported that China had deployed 21 warships around the island, including the Shandong carrier group, and 71 aircraft and four coastguard vessels on Tuesday.
“China’s blatant military provocations not only threaten peace in the #Taiwan Strait but also undermine security in the entire region, as evidenced by drills near Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Korea, the Philippines & the SCS [South China Sea]. We strongly condemn China’s escalatory behaviour,” Taiwan’s Presidential Office stated in a post on X.
On Wednesday, Taiwan reported that 76 Chinese military aircraft and 19 naval or government ships had entered waters and airspace near the island over the previous 24 hours, with 37 of the planes crossing the center line in the 160-kilometre (110-mile) wide Taiwan Strait that forms an unofficial border with mainland China, but which Beijing refuses to recognize.
The Shandong aircraft carrier group had also entered Taiwan’s air defense identification zone, a self-defined security area monitored by the Taiwanese military.
Al Jazeera’s Katrina Yu, reporting from Beijing, noted that while these exercises are not the first conducted by China around Taiwan, they “illustrate how committed Beijing is to refining its capability to blockade the island of Taiwan if it deems it necessary.”
“Beijing views Taiwan, the democratically ruled island, as a breakaway Chinese province, and President Xi Jinping has stated repeatedly, whether by peaceful means or by force, it will be reunited with mainland China,” Yu explained.
“Taiwanese leader Lai Ching-te has condemned the drills. He argues, this simply demonstrates that China is stirring up trouble in this region,” Yu added.
The drills are expected to continue until Thursday night. China’s Maritime Safety Administration has announced that a region off the northern part of the eastern province of Zhejiang, more than 500km (310 miles) from Taiwan, will be closed for shipping due to military operations.
