Josh Xiao, Yian Lee and Nectar Gan
China has begun military manoeuvres around Taiwan that will include live-fire drills after the United States announced one of its biggest arms packages ever for the self-run democracy.
Taiwan said it was placing its forces on alert to defend the island in response, and called the Chinese government “the biggest destroyer of peace”, while Beijing said the exercises involving its navy, army, air force and rocket force served as a “stern warning” against separatist and “external interference” forces.
Taiwan warned the exercises posed a risk to aviation safety and shipping, with China planning to hold live-fire exercises around Taiwan on Tuesday, including in or near the Taiwan Strait, one of the world’s busiest shipping routes.
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army said “any irrelevant vessel or aircraft is advised not to enter” the area.
Beijing has expressed anger at both US arms sales to the territory earlier this month, and a remark by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi last month that Japan’s military could get involved if China were to take action against Taiwan, the self-governing island that the world’s second-biggest economy says must come under its rule.
But the Chinese military did not mention the US or Japan in its statement about the exercises on Monday morning.
The drills underscore how sensitive the Taiwan question is to Beijing. It reacted angrily to the US approving a package of arms sales to Taiwan earlier this month worth up to $US11 billion ($16.4 billion), saying it raised the chances of a clash between the superpowers. On Friday, China unveiled largely symbolic sanctions against 20 US defence companies and 10 executives.
The exercises are the first major drills off Taiwan since April, when China’s People’s Liberation Army held two days of exercises to test blockade capabilities. Those manoeuvres also involved mock strikes on simulated targets including ports and energy facilities.
The latest drills come just two months into the one-year truce that China and the US reached in their trade dispute.
Associate Professor Dylan Loh, of Nanyang Technological University, said the exercises were unlikely to disrupt the agreement and the PLA would probably refrain from any move that could spark a response from the US.
“I think they will want to hit the Goldilocks zone of inflicting pain and demonstrating resolve but not being seen as disproportionate such that it may piss off the US,” he said.
“A missile flying over the island would certainly fall under the escalation that could invite tit-for-tat,” Loh said. In 2022, China sent missiles directly over the main island of Taiwan in response to then-House speaker Nancy Pelosi visiting Taipei.
William Yang, senior analyst for North East Asia at the International Crisis Group, said that the areas the Chinese military marked for the exercises were bigger than in the past, “suggesting that China is trying to demonstrate progress in its military’s capabilities to impose control over larger areas around Taiwan in a potential invasion”.
‘Egregious in Nature’
An expert with China’s Academy of Military Sciences said in a video on social media that the PLA was holding the drills now because “collusion between the US and Taiwan has become frequent and egregious in nature”.
Fu Zhengnan pointed to the size of the latest arms package and what he said was a shift from defensive to offensive weaponry.
Fu was likely referring to the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, or HIMARS. Those weapons, which Ukraine has used effectively in its fight against Russia, can strike well into China’s south-eastern coast. Taiwan first got them last year and started testing them in May 2025.
Beijing has stepped up military intimidation of the democracy of 23 million people since Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te took office in May 2024. China views Taiwan as a breakaway province that must be brought under its control, by force if necessary – a stance Taipei steadfastly rejects.
The US is Taiwan’s main military backer and is required by its law to supply the democracy with the weapons to defend itself.
Bloomberg, AP
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