The , which China launched on Monday around Taiwan, have reached an unprecedented scale this Tuesday in terms of geographical coverage and . The People’s Liberation Army (PLA, the Chinese army) has activated ten hours of live-fire exercises in seven air and maritime zones surrounding the self-governed territory, on the second and, in theory, last day of operations designed to test a quick encirclement and test its ability to cut Taipei’s ties with external support in the event of conflict. The communist authorities have framed these war games as a demonstration of their determination to “combat separatism and promote reunification without hesitation.”
The military tests take place in a context of growing tension in the Strait: after the United States advanced in the procedures for (valued at more than 9.4 billion euros), and following statements by the prime minister, the ultra-conservative Sanae Takaichi, in which she suggested that a hypothetical Chinese attack on Taiwan could force her country to intervene militarily.
Asked on Monday at his Mar-a-Lago residence, US President Donald Trump stated that he has “a very good relationship with President Xi [Jinping]” and that the Chinese exercises “do not worry him.” “They have been carrying out naval maneuvers in that area for 20 years,” he declared.
The Chinese Foreign Minister, Wang Yi, asserted this Tuesday that it is “natural” for China to express its “firm opposition” and adopt “strong countermeasures” against the “incessant provocations by the Taiwanese independence forces and the massive sales of weapons from the United States,” reports the state agency Xinhua.
The PLA has deployed destroyers, bombers and other naval and air units to conduct sea-based drills, air defense operations and anti-submarine warfare exercises, with the stated goal of testing air-sea coordination for “integrated containment and control.” This morning it also practiced attacks against maritime and air targets to the north and south, as well as artillery exercises and maneuvers with long-range missiles launched from Chinese soil in the direction of Taiwan.
The rehearsals are led by the PLA’s Eastern Theater Command, one of the five major commands of the Chinese Armed Forces. Its main function is to direct and coordinate all the Asian giant’s military operations on the country’s eastern flank, and would be responsible for any military scenario related to Taiwan.
The live fire tests will take place until 6:00 p.m. (11:00 a.m. in mainland Spain) in seven maritime and aerial areas near the island. The PLA initially announced restrictions in five areas, but the China Maritime Safety Administration later added two more, expanding the scope of the exercises.
A Taiwanese security source cited anonymously by Reuters noted that Taipei is closely monitoring whether this round of maneuvers includes the launch of missiles over Taiwan, as occurred in August 2022, when the then speaker of the United States House of Representatives, Democrat Nancy Pelosi, visited. The demonstration of military force near Taiwanese waters: China launches maneuvers in response to any action it considers provocative on the part of Taipei or Washington. The current ones are the sixth large-scale in three years.
This Tuesday, the Taiwanese president asked the population to remain “calm” and assured that the enclave will act “responsibly.” “We will not escalate the conflict or provoke disputes,” he wrote on his official Facebook account, where he also called against “misinformation and fake news.” The island leader emphasized that peace in the Taiwan Strait is an “aspiration shared by the international community” and has criticized the behavior of the Chinese Communist Party: “It is far from that of a responsible great power,” he added.
The Taiwanese Ministry of Defense detected around 130 PLA aircraft (90 of which crossed the median dividing line), 14 ships and eight vessels of the Chinese Coast Guard in the vicinity of the island in the 24 hours until 06:00 on Tuesday (23:00 on Monday in mainland Spain). This is the highest number recorded in a single day in 2025, although it remains below the 153 planes that were identified in the , which Beijing launched as “strong punishment” for a speech by Lai, whom it considers a “dangerous secessionist.”
Although Taiwan functions as a state in fact —it has a democratically elected Government since 1996, a Constitution and an Army—, the majority of the international community (including the United States) does not recognize it as a sovereign country; only 12 nations in the world do it. However, Washington maintains a pact with Taipei under which it supplies weapons, and rejects any change in the the state in which in the Strait by force or coercion.
China, for its part, considers it a “rebellious province.” The ancient island of Formosa (located about 130 kilometers from the Chinese province of Fujian) is the place where the nationalist forces overthrown by Mao Zedong’s Army went into exile after the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949. Although the Communist Party has never exercised effective authority over Taiwan, it claims that reunification is a “historic mission” and does not rule out the use of force to achieve that goal.
Some €2.25 trillion in trade passes through the Taiwan Strait each year, while its airspace acts as a key corridor connecting China with markets in East and Southeast Asia. The maneuvers are having a direct impact on this traffic: 11 of Taipei’s 14 air routes have been affected, which has affected more than 100,000 passengers and has left only one commercial corridor operational, heading to Japan.
In an informative email, analysts from the Euroasia Group analysis center affirm that the intensity of the military tests send a clear signal of “determination to dissuade support from the United States and other external actors for Taiwan.” The consultancy adds that the official reference to a “deterrence beyond the first island chain” should be read in parallel to the recent one, “which prioritizes military superiority to prevent a conflict around Taiwan.” Despite this, the group considers it “unlikely” that the exercises will break and rules out a serious crisis or drastic measures.
