---
title: "China Launches Major Military Drills Around Taiwan as 2025 Tensions Escalate"
description: "China has launched large-scale military drills around Taiwan in 2025, escalating Taiwan Strait tensions amid growing U.S. arms sales to Taiwan and heightened regional security concerns."
canonical_url: "https://www.isemediaagency.com/article/china-launches-major-military-drills-around-taiwan-as-2025-tensions-escalate"
last_updated: 2025-12-29
---

# China Launches Major Military Drills Around Taiwan as 2025 Tensions Escalate

China has launched large-scale military drills around Taiwan in 2025, escalating Taiwan Strait tensions amid growing U.S. arms sales to Taiwan and heightened regional security concerns.

China has launched a new round of large-scale military drills around Taiwan, heightening tensions in the Taiwan Strait. Dubbed “Justice Mission 2025,” the exercises saw the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) mobilise naval, air, rocket, and ground forces in a show of force that Beijing calls a “stern warning” to Taiwan independence forces and their foreign supporters . These China to Taiwan military drills 2025 come on the heels of the largest-ever U.S. arms package to Taiwan and sharpen an already fraught security situation in East Asia. Taipei has condemned the drills as provocative, vowing to defend its democracy and freedom even as it scrambles jets and holds its own combat readiness exercises in response . The following report breaks down the context, latest developments, and global reactions to this flare-up in cross-strait tensions. Background: Long-Running Dispute and Past Drills The dispute between China and Taiwan dates back to 1949, when China’s civil war drove the ousted Republic of China government to flee to Taiwan . Ever since, Beijing’s Communist leadership has viewed the self-governed island as a renegade province, vowing to bring it under PRC rule to by force if necessary to even though Taiwan has never been controlled by the People’s Republic. Taipei firmly rejects China’s sovereignty claims, maintaining that only Taiwan’s 23 million people can decide their future . No major armed clash has erupted in decades, but the threat of invasion looms in Chinese rhetoric and military planning. President Xi Jinping has exhorted Taiwan to accept “peaceful reunification,” yet also directed the PLA to modernize by 2027 to a timeline U.S. intelligence believes is aimed at achieving capability to invade the island . This unresolved sovereignty issue underpins the current Taiwan Strait tensions . In recent years, Beijing has dramatically increased military pressure on Taiwan, frequently sending fighter jets into Taiwan’s Air Defense Identification Zone and conducting People’s Liberation Army exercises near the island. Notably, in August 2022, after then-U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taipei, China launched unprecedented live-fire drills encircling Taiwan for several days . Those 2022 war games effectively rehearsed a blockade and missile strikes, marking a sharp escalation in China’s coercive signaling. The pattern continued through 2023 and 2024 with a series of large-scale exercises. Chinese state media designated two rounds of drills last year as Joint Sword-2024A and Joint Sword-2024B , simulating assaults on Taiwan and rehearsing “island encirclement” operations . In April 2025, the PLA’s Eastern Theater Command carried out another major exercise code-named “Strait Thunder to 2025A” , involving live-fire missile launches and an aircraft carrier group, again encircling Taiwan on multiple fronts . Analysts noted that exercise featured explicit anti-access/area denial training to practicing to keep U.S. and allied forces at bay . Each drill has been accompanied by bellicose warnings from Beijing and condemnation from Taipei. This history of saber-rattling set the stage for the latest Chinese show of force in late 2025. Latest “Justice Mission 2025” Drills and Taiwan’s Response On 29 December 2025, China’s PLA Eastern Theater Command sprang a surprise multi-domain exercise around Taiwan, less than an hour after announcing it . Codenamed “Justice Mission 2025,” the operation is the most extensive of this year’s drills by geographic scope . Chinese destroyers, frigates, fighter jets, bomber aircraft, drones, rocket artillery and even coast guard units were deployed in areas to Taiwan’s north, south, east, and west in a coordinated encirclement maneuver . Col. Shi Yi, spokesperson for the Eastern Theater Command, said the joint exercises would focus on “sea-air combat readiness patrols, joint seizure of superiority, blockade of key ports, and all-dimensional deterrence beyond the island chain” . In plainer terms, China openly simulated cutting off Taiwan’s access and repelling any outside intervention. PLA vessels and warplanes pressed in from multiple directions “in close proximity” to Taiwan’s airspace and waters . Live-fire drills were conducted against maritime targets and coastal objectives, effectively simulating a blockade of Taiwan’s main ports like Kaohsiung in the south and Keelung in the north . Beijing framed the exercise as a “stern warning” to Taipei and its partners. “It is a stern warning against ‘Taiwan independence’ separatist forces and external interference forces, and a legitimate and necessary action to safeguard China’s sovereignty and national unity,” Col. Shi proclaimed of the drills . A Chinese foreign ministry spokesman added that “external parties” using Taiwan to contain China were pushing the region toward “imminent war,” vowing that any “sinister schemes to obstruct China’s reunification are doomed to fail” . Notably, this is the first time China’s military has so bluntly linked exercises to deterring foreign militaries: the PLA even released propaganda posters warning that outside interference in Taiwan would be met with force . Chinese state media (Xinhua) defended the drills as “legitimate and necessary” , while the defense ministry in Beijing warned unnamed countries (widely read as the United States and Japan) to “abandon the illusion of using Taiwan to contain China” . Taiwan reacted with defiance and vigilance. Within hours of China’s announcement, Taiwan’s defense ministry activated its joint emergency operations center and raised the combat alert level of its forces . The ministry deployed fighter jets, naval vessels, and missile defenses to track the PLA movements, while also commencing its own “rapid response” drills to practice fending off a sudden attack . By Monday afternoon, Taipei’s military had detected at least 89 Chinese military aircraft (the most in a single day in over a year) and 28 ships operating around the island . Some Chinese warships even ventured within Taiwan’s contiguous zone (24 nautical miles from its coast) before withdrawing . Taiwan’s Transportation Ministry reported that Beijing had declared danger zones in international airspace that would force the rerouting of civilian flights. More than 100,000 air travelers were projected to be affected, as authorities prepared to divert or cancel over 850 flights during the live-fire period . Shipping lanes were also under close watch, though port authorities said they would instruct vessels to avoid Chinese drill areas to prevent incidents . Top Taiwanese leaders sharply condemned China’s actions. President William Lai Ching-te accused Beijing of destabilizing the Indo-Pacific and misjudging Taiwan’s resolve . “Defending democracy and freedom is no provocation, and the existence of the Republic of China is not an excuse for aggressors to disrupt the status quo,” Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense declared in a statement, reaffirming that the island will not yield to intimidation . The presidential office spokesperson, Karen Kuo , blasted the drills as “irresponsible and provocative,” urging Beijing to cease its military intimidation of neighboring countries . In a symbolic response, Taiwan’s Army even publicized footage of its U.S.-supplied HIMARS rocket systems and other advanced weaponry deployed during its counter-drills to a message that Taiwan is prepared to strike back if attacked . All units remain on high alert, officials said, and Taiwan’s Coast Guard has dispatched ships to help monitor PLA movements near its waters . While life in Taiwan proceeded normally overall, many residents voiced fatigue at Beijing’s saber-rattling. “The drills are just meant to scare us,” one Taipei resident told Al Jazeera, adding that most Taiwanese simply “live our lives” even under constant threat . Additional Developments and Global Reactions U.S. Arms Sales & China’s Backlash: The timing of China’s latest drills is no coincidence. L

Published: 2025-12-29T00:00:00.000Z

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