The Chinese military has conducted a live-fire drill in the Taiwan Strait, it said on Wednesday.
The drill, codenamed “Strait Thunder”, is an intensification of military exercises China conducted around Taiwan on Tuesday, the self-ruled island that Beijing claims as its territory.
Taiwan’s presidential office said on Tuesday it “strongly condemns” the “military provocations” that have become increasingly routine amid cross-strait relations.
The exercises come as China has sharpened its rhetoric against Taiwan President Lai Ching-tei, labeling him a “parasite” and a “separatist.” Earlier this month, Lai called China a “foreign enemy force.”
The exercises were intended to be a “serious warning and a powerful deterrent” to “Taiwan independence” separatist forces, China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) said in a statement.
It also released a series of cartoons depicting Lai as a “parasite” who “poisons the island of Taiwan” and — along with an image of Lai being burned at the stake — “faces ultimate destruction.”
Another video by the PLA, titled “Subdue the Demons and Defeat Evil,” likened the military’s abilities to the magical powers of the mythical Chinese figure the Monkey King.
In recent days, the People’s Daily, a Chinese Communist Party newspaper, has published a series of editorials denouncing Lai as a “troublemaker” and “warmonger.”
“The facts have fully proven that Lai Ching-te is a fierce warmonger,” read an article published on Wednesday. “Subdue the demons and defeat the evil, use force to stop the war.”
While the reason for this week’s exercises was not specified, Chinese authorities and state media have referred to a set of policies announced by Lai last month to crack down on Beijing’s influence and aggression operations — in which Lai used the term “foreign hostile force.”
However, the timing of the exercises, which come just weeks after Lai’s announcement, suggests that Chinese authorities wanted to wait until after the annual Boao Business Forum, which ended on March 28, concluded with meetings between Chinese President Xi Jinping and international business leaders.
They come as global markets brace for the Trump administration’s latest round of tariffs, while the world’s attention is elsewhere.
In response to China’s latest military exercises, the White House said Tuesday that US President Donald Trump would “stress the importance of maintaining peace in the Taiwan Strait.” On Wednesday, the US State Department reaffirmed its “enduring commitment” to Taiwan.
During a recent trip to Asia, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also repeatedly criticized China’s aggression in the region and pledged to provide a “robust, ready and credible deterrent,” including across the Taiwan Strait.
However, the PLA appears to be moving toward a situation where such exercises around Taiwan will occur regularly, rather than in response to any specific provocation.
Some experts see the exercises as a dress rehearsal for a possible real blockade of the Taipei government in the future.
In the words of the Chinese military this week, they serve as a training operation that operates “close to Taiwan from all directions.”
In addition, analysts believe that Beijing is increasing the frequency and size of its military exercises as a way of trying to increase pressure on the Taiwanese population to accept that annexation by China is inevitable.
This comes despite polls consistently showing that the vast majority of Taiwanese people strongly oppose the Chinese Communist Party’s takeover of their democratically-ruled archipelago.
Taiwanese officials have warned that China could hold more military exercises later this year, on dates such as the anniversary of Lai’s rise to power or Taiwan’s National Day in October.
However, the PLA’s movements in Taiwan could also provide an opportunity.
Taiwanese military chiefs have said that whenever China holds such war games, it can study maneuvers to better prepare its own forces for any real attack.
