China’s PLA holds military drills in Yellow Sea off Shandong coast
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China's PLA begins military exercises in Bohai Bay, Yellow Sea, restricting waters off Weifang, Shandong province, from July 24 to 26.
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A Chinese warship attending a naval drill with Iran and Russia arrives at Shahid Beheshti port in Chabahar in the Gulf of Oman, Iran, Tuesday, March 11, 2025. (AP)
China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) is set to conduct military exercises in the Yellow Sea from Wednesday through Friday, according to a notice issued by the China Maritime Safety Administration on Tuesday.
The drills will take place in the port waters off Weifang, located in Shandong province, and are scheduled to begin at midnight Wednesday local time (16:00 GMT Tuesday) and continue until midnight Friday (16:00 GMT Thursday).
Authorities released coordinates outlining a restricted zone in Bohai Bay, declaring the area off-limits to maritime traffic for the duration of the operation. However, no additional details were provided regarding the nature of the exercise or the military units involved.
Chinese drills to simulate Taiwan siege
Earlier in the year, China deployed its army, navy, air, and rocket forces in a coordinated effort to encircle Taiwan 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."
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."
