Taiwan is self-governing, with its own government, military, currency, and passport, yet in his New Year’s address Chinese leader Xi Jinping reiterated his intention to seize the island, which the Chinese Communist Party maintains is part of the People’s Republic of China.
Li Jian, a researcher at China’s Naval Research Academy, said the drills were a necessary step to safeguard peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and to advance what he described as national reunification. “This sends a clear message that seeking ‘Taiwan independence’ through external support is a dead end, while returning to the motherland is the only viable path,” Li said.
For the United States, the drills offered a rare glimpse into the PLA’s evolving strategy and capabilities. The scale of the exercises was striking, demonstrating a level of command, control, and integration across services that exceeded prior expectations. At the same time, the fact that this marked the second blockade-style exercise in 2025 suggests Beijing may be prioritizing a coercive blockade strategy rather than an immediate full-scale invasion.
The PLA described the drills as a successful test of integrated joint operations capabilities, making them the largest and most comprehensive Chinese military exercises around Taiwan to date.
The PLA deployed Army, Navy, Air Force, and Rocket Force units in coordinated operations north and south of Taiwan. Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense detected 130 Chinese aircraft, 14 naval vessels, eight coast guard or other official ships, and a Chinese military balloon within 24 hours, with most aircraft crossing the median line of the Taiwan Strait. Fourteen China Coast Guard vessels operated alongside PLA Navy ships, with participating assets including destroyers, frigates, H-6 bombers, fighters, missiles, and ground-based artillery.
For the first time since 2022, China announced maritime exclusion zones, establishing eight zones around Taiwan, five of which overlapped Taiwan’s territorial waters, and conducted more than 200 air sorties. Live rounds were fired from Fujian province into waters roughly 44 kilometers off Taiwan’s coast, with 27 rockets launched in two waves. The drills disrupted civilian activity, forcing schedule changes to more than 100 flights and prompting repeated safety warnings from fishing associations.
The exercises simulated a blockade of key ports and infrastructure, particularly Kaohsiung, Keelung, and Hualien. China Coast Guard and PLA Navy coordination rehearsed civilian vessel interdiction under law-enforcement pretexts while supporting counter-intervention and area-denial operations against foreign forces. PLA and coast guard vessels operated deep inside Taiwan’s contiguous zone and near offshore islands, with missiles landing within 12–24 nautical miles of Taiwan.
Taiwan President Lai Ching-te said Taiwan would not escalate tensions but criticized Beijing’s behavior as irresponsible. Defense officials warned that the drills threatened regional stability, shipping lanes, air routes, and fishermen’s livelihoods. Australia, France, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the European Union issued statements urging restraint and peaceful resolution of cross-strait tensions.
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