China launches war games around Taiwan as island vows to defend democracy

China staged live-fire drills around Taiwan on Monday, deploying troops, warships, fighter jets and artillery for its "Justice Mission 2025" exercises, as the island scrambled soldiers and showcased US-made hardware to rehearse repelling an attack.

The Eastern Theatre Command said it had concentrated forces to the north and southwest of the Taiwan Strait and carried out live firing and simulated strikes on land and maritime targets. The drills would continue on Tuesday and include exercises to blockade the island's main ports and encircle it.

A senior Taiwan security official told Reuters dozens of Chinese military boats and aircraft were operating around the island, some of which were "deliberately closing in" on Taiwan's contiguous zone, defined as 24 nautical miles from its coast.

This marks China's sixth major round of war games since 2022 after then-US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited the democratically governed island, and follows a rise in Chinese rhetoric over Beijing's territorial claims after Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi suggested a hypothetical Chinese attack on Taiwan could trigger a military response from Tokyo.

The exercises began 11 days after the US announced $11.1 billion in arms sales to Taiwan, the largest ever weapons package for the island, drawing a protest from China's defence ministry and warnings the military would "take forceful measures" in response.

Analysts say Beijing's drills increasingly blur the line between routine military training exercises and what could be stage-setting for an attack, a strategy intended to give the US and its allies minimal warning of an assault.

"This (the drills) serves as a serious warning to 'Taiwan Independence' separatist forces and external interference forces," said Shi Yi, a spokesperson for the Eastern Theatre Command.

Taiwan's government condemned the drills, while its defence ministry posted a video on Facebook showcasing various weapons, including US-made HIMARS rocket systems, a highly mobile artillery system with a range of about 300 km that could hit coastal targets in China's southern province of Fujian, on the other side of the Taiwan Strait, in the event of a conflict.

Taiwan's coast guard added that it had dispatched large ships in reaction to Chinese coast guard activity near its waters and that it was working with the island's military to minimise the drills' impact on maritime routes and fishing areas.

The island's aviation authority said China had designated a "temporary danger zone" in Taipei's airspace for 10-hours of live-fire drills scheduled for Tuesday and that it was working to identify alternative flight routes.

RAPID RESPONSE

Taiwan's defence ministry said two Chinese military aircraft and 11 ships had been operating around the island over the past 24 hours, and that Taiwan's military was on high alert and poised to carry out "rapid response exercises."

That particular drill is designed to move troops swiftly in case China suddenly turns one of its drills around the island into an attack.

"All members of our armed forces will remain highly vigilant and fully on guard, taking concrete action to defend the values of democracy and freedom," the defence ministry said.

Taiwan stock markets were unaffected by the drills, up 0.8 per cent to a record high in morning trading.

"I think these drills are just meant to scare us," said Lin Wei-ming, a 31-year-old teacher based in the capital, Taipei. "Similar drills have happened before...the political side of things can only be handled by Taiwan's current government and how they choose to respond."

Taiwan rejects China's claimed sovereignty, maintaining that only its people can decide the island's future.

'SMASH THE SEPARATIST SCOUNDRELS'

The Chinese military released two posters titled "Shields of Justice: Smashing Illusions," and "Arrows of Justice: Control and Denial", along with a third graphic depicting four locations across the island with targets locking on, following the drill announcement.

China's state broadcaster said the exercises would focus on sealing off Taiwan's vital deep-water Port of Keelung to the island's north and Kaohsiung to Taiwan's south, the island's largest port city.

While the PLA practiced port blockades around Taiwan during war games last year, this marks the first time it has publicly stated that drills around the island are aimed at "deterrence" of outside military intervention.

The Japanese prime minister's remarks triggered a surge in Chinese messaging stressing its sovereignty claims. Chinese leader Xi Jinping told US President Donald Trump in November that Taiwan's "return to China" after World War Two was central to Beijing's vision of the global order.

The first poster appeared to show the armada of civilian ships China is mobilising to help in an attack on Taiwan, vessels with ramps and open decks that could be used to carry out an amphibious assault.

"Any foreign interference that touches the shield (of justice) shall perish!" the poster read. "Any separatist scoundrels who encounter the shield shall be destroyed!"

"I think their (China's) goal is, as they said, 'keep the island, not the people,'" said Stephanie Huang, a 56-year-old interior designer. "They just want to save face by claiming Taiwan as part of their own country, but Taiwanese people don't see it that way."

"We are who we are; they are who they are."