China concludes two-day war games around Taiwan after live fire drills

By Joe Cash, Yimou Lee and Ben Blanchard

BEIJING/TAIPEI (Reuters) -China's military concluded two-day war games around Taiwan in which it held long-range, live-fire drills in the East China Sea, marking an escalation of exercises around the island.

The military's Eastern Theatre Command said late on Wednesday it had completed the drills, which tested the troops' "integrated joint operations capabilities."

"Troops of the theatre command remain on high alert at all times, and will continue to strengthen combat readiness with intensive training, resolutely thwarting any separatist activities seeking 'Taiwan independence'," the military said in a post on its social media account.

China has stepped up rhetoric against Taiwan President Lai Ching-te, calling him a "parasite" on Tuesday in the wake of U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's Asia visit, during which he repeatedly criticised Beijing.

China views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory and has repeatedly denounced Lai as a "separatist". Lai, who won election last year, rejects Beijing's sovereignty claims and says only Taiwan's people can decide their future.

The Eastern Theatre Command said that on Wednesday as part of the Strait Thunder-2025A exercise its ground forces had conducted long-range, live-fire drills into the waters of the East China Sea, though it did not specify the location.

"The drills involve precision strikes on simulated targets of key ports and energy facilities, and have achieved desired effects," it said, without elaborating.

Taiwan's benchmark stock index briefly slipped into the red after the announcement, but closed up 0.1%.

China's Maritime Safety Administration announced late on Tuesday a closed zone for shipping due to military drills until Thursday night in an area off the north part of the eastern province of Zhejiang, more than 500 km (310 miles) from Taiwan.

A senior Taiwan defence official told Reuters that area was outside its "response zone", and Taiwan's defence ministry said it had detected no live fire drills around the island itself.

China's military published a video it said was of the live fire drills that showed rockets, rather than ballistic missiles, being launched and hitting targets on land, and an animation of explosions over Taiwanese cities including Tainan, Hualien and Taichung, all home to military bases and ports.

The words, "Control energy corridors, disrupt supply routes, block clandestine routes to docks", then appear on the screen.

The aircraft carrier Shandong also took part in drills to the east of Taiwan, focused on integrated operations between naval and air forces and "multi-dimensional blockade and control", China's military said.

Taiwan has denounced China for holding the drills.

Taipei's defence ministry said it had detected on Wednesday 36 Chinese military aircraft, against 76 for the previous day. The ministry added that Taiwan had activated its own "rapid response exercise" for a second day, saying this was needed to boost the alert level in case of a sudden Chinese move.

China's recent pressure against Taiwan also included a call last week for people to email reports about separatist activity.

Chiu Chui-cheng, head of Taiwan's China policy-making Mainland Affairs Council ministry, said that given the rising risks of visits to China, people should carefully consider whether they need to go, including to Hong Kong and Macau.

WAR GAMES

China has not formally named Tuesday's drills. Beijing called two rounds of major war games last year around Taiwan Joint Sword-2024A and Joint Sword-2024B.

Chinese state television said Tuesday's activities were not part of Strait Thunder-2025A, hence they did not have that name, and cited a military expert as saying this demonstrated the armed forces' ability to adapt to rapidly evolving combat situations.

"No matter what the name is, it cannot cover up the naked provocative nature of the drills and their mentality of threatening Taiwan's people," Taiwanese defence ministry spokesperson Sun Li-fang told reporters in Taipei.

China's widely read Global Times, published by the ruling Communist Party's official People's Daily, said advanced equipment had been used, pointing to pictures from the military showing YJ-21 air-launched ballistic missiles slung under H-6K bombers.

The H-6K is an extended-range strike aircraft, while the YJ-21 is an advanced anti-ship weapon. H-6 aircraft, some of which are capable of carrying nuclear weapons, have been involved in past drills around Taiwan, and also spotted over the disputed South China Sea.

Previous Chinese war games have also practiced precision strikes and blockading the island.

Taiwan has not reported any travel disruptions because of the drills.

The United States, Taiwan's most important international supporter and main arms supplier despite the lack of formal diplomatic relations, condemned the latest exercises.

"Once again, China's aggressive military activities and rhetoric toward Taiwan only serve to exacerbate tensions and put the region's security and the world's prosperity at risk," the U.S. State Department said in a statement.

Japan and the European Union also expressed concern.

"The EU has a direct interest in the preservation of the status quo in the Taiwan Strait. We oppose any unilateral actions that change the status quo by force or coercion," an EU spokesperson said.

Speaking in Beijing, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said China was "firmly opposed" to such comments, saying Taiwan was a purely internal affair that brooked no outside interference.

Taiwan has lived under the threat of Chinese invasion since 1949 when the defeated Republic of China government fled to the island after losing a civil war with Mao Zedong's communists, though the two sides have not exchanged fire in anger for decades.

(Reporting by Joe Cash, Yimou Lee and Ben Blanchard; additional reporting by Angie Teo in Taipei, Liz Lee and Ethan Wang in Beijing and Greg Torode in Hong Kong; editing by Himani Sarkar, Stephen Coates, Gerry Doyle, Kim Coghill and Mark Heinrich)