China stages record drills designed to encircle Taiwan

By Joe Cash, Yimou Lee and Wen-Yee Lee

BEIJING/TAIPEI, Dec 29 (Reuters) - China launched its most extensive war games around Taiwan on Monday to showcase Beijing's ability to cut off the island from outside support in a conflict, testing Taipei's resolve to defend itself and its arsenal of U.S.-made weapons.

The Eastern Theatre Command said it had deployed troops, warships, fighter jets and artillery for its "Justice Mission 2025" exercises to encircle the democratically-governed island, conduct live fire and simulated strikes on land and sea targets, and drills to blockade Taiwan's main ports.

The live-firing exercises will continue on Tuesday across a record seven zones designated by China's Maritime Safety Administration, making the drills the largest to date by total coverage and in areas closer to Taiwan than previous exercises. The military had initially said artillery firing would be confined to five zones.

China's sixth major round of war games since 2022, after then-U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited the democratically-governed island, follows stronger rhetoric promoting Beijing's territorial claims in response to Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi suggesting a hypothetical Chinese attack on Taiwan could trigger a military response from Tokyo.

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

"Our armed forces operate on the principle of preparing for the worst and must take every possible scenario into account," Hsieh Jih-sheng, deputy chief of the general staff for intelligence at Taiwan's defence ministry, told reporters, when asked about Tuesday's drills. 

"Conducting live-fire exercises around the Taiwan Strait ... would not only constitute military pressure on us, but could also pose more complex challenges and impacts for the international community and neighbouring countries."

'STRONG MESSAGE ON EXTERNAL INTERFERENCE' 

The exercises began 11 days after the U.S. 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.

"They (China) are sending a strong message on external interference," said Chieh Chung, a researcher at Taiwan's Institute for National Defence and Security Research, pointing to how China had "completely cut off" air and sea links with Japan for three zones to Taiwan's north.

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 U.S. and its allies minimal warning of an assault.

The Chinese military also released a video depicting automated humanoid robots, microdrones and weaponised robotic dogs attacking the island, futuristic technology China has never showcased before.

Fu Zhengyuan, a researcher at the Chinese military's Academy of Military Science, told state media the exercises were justified by concerns over increasing interoperability between Taiwanese and U.S. combat systems, which he said raises the risk of a direct clash between the two superpowers.

Taiwan's government condemned the drills, while its defence ministry posted a video on Facebook showcasing various weapons, including U.S.-made HIMARS rocket systems, a highly mobile artillery system with a range of about 300 km (186 miles) 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.

The island's coast guard said it had deployed large ships to face off against Chinese coast guard vessels near its waters and was coordinating with the military to minimise the drills' impact on maritime routes and fishing grounds.

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

RAPID RESPONSE

Taiwan's defence ministry said 89 Chinese military aircraft, 14 military vessels and 14 coast guard boats had been operating around the island on Monday, while four additional warships were also spotted in the Western Pacific.

Taiwan's defence ministry said some of the Chinese vessels were engaged in stand-offs with Taiwanese ships near the island's contiguous zone, defined as 24 nautical miles offshore.

The ministry said Taiwan's military was on high alert and poised to carry out "rapid response exercises", designed to move troops swiftly in case the drills turn into an attack.

Taiwan stock markets were unaffected by the drills, closing 0.9% up.

"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."

'SMASH THE SEPARATIST SCOUNDRELS'

The Chinese military released a series of propaganda posters along with a 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 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!"

(Reporting by Joe Cash and Yimou Lee and Wen-yee Lee in Taipei; Additional reporting by Eduardo Baptista in Beijing and Fabian Hamacher and Roger Tung in Taipei; Editing by Lincoln Feast, Stephen Coates and Saad Sayeed)