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

China's military moved army, naval, air force and artillery units around Taiwan on Monday for its "Justice Mission 2025" drills, as the island vowed to ​defend democracy and mobilised troops to rehearse repelling a potential Chinese attack.

The Eastern Theatre Command announced the drills will involve live-fire exercises on Tuesday, in a ‌statement containing a graphic demarcating five zones surrounding the island that will be under sea and air space restrictions ⁠for 10 hours from 8:30 a.m. (0030 GMT). 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 drills 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. Beijing's drills increasingly ​blur the line between routine military training exercises and what analysts say could be stage-setting for an attack, a strategy intended to give the US and its allies minimal warning of an assault.

China's military said it had deployed fighter jets, bombers, unmanned aerial vehicles, and long-range rockets, and would practice striking mobile land-based targets while simulating a coordinated assault on the island from multiple directions.

"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. A presidential office spokesperson urged China not to misjudge the situation and undermine regional peace, and called on Beijing to immediately halt what ⁠they described as irresponsible provocations.

The island's defence ministry said two Chinese military aircraft and 11 ships had been operating around the island over the last 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 frequent 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," it said in a statement.

Taiwan stock markets were unaffected by the drills, up 0.3 per cent to a ‌record high in morning trading.

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 drills 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.

The first poster features two golden shields emblazoned ‍with the Chinese People's Liberation Army insignia and the Great Wall of China, along with military aircraft and two ships. China is mobilising an armada of civilian ships that could help in an attack on Taiwan. Vessels with ramps and open decks similar to military landing craft used in amphibious assaults since World War Two, and the poster appeared to show two such vessels at its base.

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

The second poster shows flaming arrows raining down on Taiwan and spearing green cartoon bugs. Beijing regularly calls Taiwan's President Lai Ching-te a "parasite" and began using the cartoon green bug caricature to represent separatist forces during April's war games.

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. Takaichi'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.

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