The drills, called “Straits Thunder-2025A,” focus on “identification and verification,” “warning and expulsion” and “interception and detention” tasks to “test the troops’ capabilities” in areas such as “air control, blocking and precision strikes against key targets,” Colonel Shi Yi, spokesman for the People’s Liberation Army Eastern Theater Command, said in a statement.
On Tuesday, China deployed 71 aircraft, 21 warships and four coast guard vessels around Taiwan, in line with the last two large-scale exercises on the island, held in May and October 2024. Taiwan’s leader, William Lai Ching-te, recently delivered one of his harshest speeches against China, announcing 17 measures — including the reestablishment of military tribunals and strict scrutiny of visits by Chinese citizens to Taiwan — to counter what he described as a Chinese Communist Party infiltration campaign on the island.
For the first time, William Lai called China a “hostile external force,” which was interpreted by some analysts as a change in policies advocated by his predecessor and an attempt to change Taiwan’s status.
Taiwan has been governed autonomously since 1949 and has its own army and a political, economic and social system different from that of the People’s Republic of China, but Beijing considers Taiwan an “inalienable part” of its territory.
China has intensified pressure on the territory in recent years, frequently organizing large-scale military exercises that simulate a sea and air blockade of the island.
*With Lusa
