Chinas New War Games Around Taiwan Differ Significantly From Previous Drills

China Conducts Largest Military Drills Around Taiwan, Simulating Blockade of Key Ports

China has held a two-day military exercise, Justice Mission 2025, around Taiwan, marking the sixth round of large-scale war games since 2022. The exercise began on Monday and included 10 hours of live fire drills on Tuesday, as Chinese forces practised encircling Taiwan and blockading its major ports.

According to China’s Eastern Theatre Command spokesperson Shi Yi, the exercises took place in the waters and airspace to the north, southwest, southeast, and east of Taiwan’s main island. The military deployed various assets, including naval destroyers, frigates, fighter planes, bombers, drones, and long-range missiles, to simulate seizing control of Taiwan’s airspace and striking critical infrastructure.

The exercises also simulated a blockade of Taiwan and its main ports, Keelung and Kaohsiung. On Tuesday, Chinese forces fired long-range rockets into the waters around the island, according to a video released by the military on social media. Taiwan’s coastguard reported that seven rockets were fired into two drill zones around the main island.

Taiwan’s Ministry of Defence said it had tracked 130 air sorties by Chinese aircraft, 14 naval ships and eight “official ships” between Monday and Tuesday morning. Ninety of the air sorties crossed into Taiwan’s air defence identification zone (ADIZ), an area monitored by Taipei, during the 24 hours.

The exercise was the largest war game since 2022 in terms of the area covered, according to Jaime Ocon, a research fellow at Taiwan Security Monitor. The zones involved were “very, very big”, particularly those around Taiwan’s southern and southeast coastlines, which breached territorial waters.

China has held military exercises around Taiwan several times since 2022, including after US Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to the island in August 2022. The latest exercise was similar to previous ones, with a focus on blockading Taiwan and disrupting international civil aviation routes and maritime shipping lanes through the Taiwan Strait.

Source: Al Jazeera