China Performs Military Exercises From Different Axis Around Taiwan

The Chinese military said Tuesday it had performed joint exercises involving its army, navy, air force and rocket force around Taiwan as a “stern warning,” days after US defense chief Pete Hegseth vowed to counter “China’s aggression” on his first visit to Asia.

China’s armed forces will “close in” on the self-governing island from “different axis” in the drills and practice maneuvers including “assault on maritime and ground targets” and “blockade on key areas and sea lanes” to test joint operations capabilities of the troops, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA)’s Eastern Theater Command said in a statement on social media.

“It is a stern warning and forceful deterrence against ‘Taiwan Independence’ separatist forces, and it is a legitimate and necessary action to safeguard China’s sovereignty and national unity,” the statement added.

China’s latest military exercises come as Taiwan is looking on nervously as US President Donald Trump transforms Washington’s global relationships with his mercantilist “America First” foreign policy, discarding decades-old guarantees towards Europe and pushing long-standing Asian allies and partners to pay more for US protection.

For Taiwan, a democracy of some 23 million people that sits just 80 miles from China at its nearest point, the drills are the latest reminder of the threat that comes from its giant Communist Party-run neighbor, which claims the island as its own and has vowed to seize it by force if necessary.

Taiwan officials have condemned the exercises as “reckless” and “irresponsible.”

“It came without justification, violates international laws and is totally unacceptable. Democracies need to condemn China for being a troublemaker,” Joseph Wu, secretary-general of Taiwan’s National Security Council, said in a post on social platform X.

Taiwan’s Defense Minister Wellington Koo said his ministry will closely monitor the drills and the movement of a Chinese aircraft carrier group in waters to the southeast of Taiwan, led by China’s first domestically built carrier, the Shandong.

Taiwan’s military dispatched its own aircraft and ships, and deployed land-based missile systems to closely monitor the situation and respond appropriately, the island’s Defense Ministry said in a statement about the Shandong aircraft carrier group.

Hegseth’s Asia Visit

In Taiwan, government officials and experts view the Chinese drills as a signal to the Trump administration, where several key cabinet officials are hawkish on China, in particular Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

During his first trip to Asia as US defense secretary last week, Hegseth vowed to enhance America’s military alliance with the Philippines to “reestablish deterrence” to counter “China’s aggression” in the Indo-Pacific region, and called Japan an “indispensable partner in deterring communist Chinese military aggression,” including across the Taiwan Strait.

An internal analysis by the Taiwan government cited Hegseth’s visit as among the “external reasons” for China’s latest drills.

CNN/Ejiofor Ezeifeoma