China conducts large-scale military drills simulating siege of Taiwan
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The Chinese drills are practicing enforcing a siege on the island amid heightened tensions in the region, exacerbated by the US escalating its military support for China's neighbors.
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This image released by the Taiwan Ministry of National Defense shows China’s Shandong aircraft carrier sailing near Taiwan on Monday, March 31, 2025. (AP)
China deployed its army, navy, air, and rocket forces in a coordinated effort to encircle Taiwan on Tuesday for extensive military exercises that Beijing described as preparations for enforcing a blockade of the self-ruled island.
The exercises follow a statement by US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Sunday in Japan, where he affirmed that the United States would maintain a "credible deterrence" across the Taiwan Strait.
Taiwan's Defense Ministry reported that China had deployed 19 warships, including the Shandong aircraft carrier group, around the island in the 24-hour period leading up to 6:00 AM (2200 GMT Monday), making the largest deployment since May 2024, when 27 ships were deployed according to AFP.
Beijing said that the exercises aim to send a "stern warning and forceful deterrence", to separatists in Taiwan, and the spokesperson of the Chinese military's Eastern Theater Command Col. Shi Yi said that the exercises involved "sea-air combat-readiness patrols, joint seizure of comprehensive superiority, assault on maritime and ground targets, and blockade on key areas and sea lanes."
The Colonel said that the Chinese military is practicing closing in "on Taiwan Island from multiple directions," while the Chinese military Eastern Threater Command shared a graphic with the title "Closing In." Another graphic shared by the military depicted the Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te as an insect being grilled on an open fire.
Taiwan Strait tensions on the rise
US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, vowed that the US will maintain a "robust, ready, and credible deterrence" across the Taiwan Strait during his visit to Japan on March 30.
Hegseth did not urge Tokyo to increase its military spending, and instead stated that the United States would "make the correct determination of what capabilities are needed," adding, "Our job now at this moment, here with our allies, is to say: We are re-establishing deterrence. Peace through strength, with America in the lead, is back."
"President Trump has also made it very clear, and we reiterate, we are going to put America first. But America first does not mean America alone," he said, emphasizing that both countries "stand firmly together in the face of aggressive and coercive actions by the Communist Chinese."
China and Taiwan
China says that the self-ruled island of Taiwan is a breakaway province and claims control over the body of water that surrounds the island and separates it from mainland China, while insisting that Taiwan must be reunified with China, by force if it must.
The Chinese ambassador to Russia, Zhang Hanhui, stated on January 3 that reunification between China and Taiwan is imminent, asserting that "no one and nothing can stop" what he considered will be a historic event.
"China is closer than ever before in history to achieving the goal of the great revival of the Chinese nation, is full of confidence and has the strength to realize this goal, and also has more confidence, strength and is closer to achieving the complete reunification of the country," he said.
Chinese President Xi Jinping asserted in April of last year that foreign interference will not disrupt the reunification of Taiwan with the mainland, "differences in systems cannot change the objective fact that we belong to one nation and one people."
