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China has launched large-scale military drills around Taiwan, accusing its leaders of being “separatists” and “parasites” who were pushing the democratically run island into war.
The drills, accompanied by a propaganda campaign, were launched without warning on Tuesday morning. China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) said they were a “stern warning” to Taiwan’s democratically elected government over what Beijing claims is separatist activity.
Forces from the PLA Navy, Army and Rocket Force were approaching Taiwan from “multiple directions”, said China’s Eastern Theatre Command, which manages military operations in the region, on its official WeChat social media account.
It said the drills would focus on “combat readiness patrols at sea and in the air, seizing comprehensive control, striking maritime and land targets and imposing blockade controls on key areas and routes”.
Taiwan’s defence ministry said it had detected 19 PLA ships around Taiwan by 6am on Tuesday, including the Chinese aircraft carrier Shandong. More than 10 of the ships approached close to Taiwan’s contiguous zone, which stretches 24 nautical miles (44km) from the coast, military officials told Reuters. Taiwan’s military had deployed aircraft, Navy ships, and coastal missile systems in response, the ministry said.
Beijing claims Taiwan is Chinese territory and is building capability to seize it by military force. Analysts believe it is not there yet, but has been making significant advances and in the meantime uses military pressure – such as drills – and other coercive means to push Taiwan towards submission.
“‘Taiwan independence’ means war, and pursuing ‘Taiwan independence’ means pushing the people of Taiwan into a dangerous situation of war,” Zhu Fenglian, a spokesperson for Beijing’s Taiwan Affairs Office, claimed in a statement.
Taiwan, which is recognised as a country by around a dozen others mostly in the Pacific and Caribbean, operates as a sovereign state with its own democratically elected government, military and currency. Its government and people overwhelmingly oppose the prospect of Chinese rule.
The PLA also released several propaganda videos and posters, declaring it was “closing in” on Taiwan, and depicting a full-scale assault on the island including missile attacks. Other imagery called Taiwan’s president, Lai Ching-te, a “parasite courting ultimate destruction” and portrayed him as a cartoon bug being held by chopsticks over a burning Taipei. That cartoon, which was in Chinese and English, also showed him holding a former opposition figure, Ko Wen-je, in a cage, appearing to provoke Taiwan’s febrile domestic politics – Ko is now in jail on corruption charges but some supporters have called it a political persecution.
China has launched numerous drills against Taiwan in recent years, often in response to perceived acts of separatism or pro-independence. Lai, who was elected last year to continue the rule of the pro-sovereignty Democratic Progressive party, has taken a forthright approach to cross-strait tensions. Last month he declared China to be a “foreign hostile force” under national security legislation, and announced a series of measures to counter its growing influence and espionage operations.
Tuesday’s drills have differed slightly from more recent efforts, which have not been so explicitly linked to “punishing” Taiwan. They were also launched with little warning. Taiwan’s government and military have been ramping up their response training amid growing concern that Beijing might launch a real attack or blockade under the guise of a drill.
Amanda Hsiao, a director in Eurasia Group’s China practice, said Tuesday’s propaganda “makes it clear that China is breaking from what has been a relatively quiet approach since Trump’s election”.
“This is primarily about Lai’s 13 March speech which Beijing found provocative,” she said. “The publicity around the exercise likely also has the US in mind – they want to persuade the Trump administration that Lai is a troublemaker and to deter the US from maintaining high levels of support to Taiwan.”
The US secretary of defence, Pete Hegseth, has visited several Asian countries in recent days, emphasising that countering China and deterring it from attacking Taiwan was a key priority for the US.
