China’s Military Drills Around Taiwan Are a Warning to Its President​on April 1, 2025 at 11:28 am

China launched military exercises pressing in on Taiwan on Tuesday, in what Beijing said was a warning to the island-democracy’s president, Lai Ching-te, after he called China a “foreign hostile force.”

Chinese land, navy, air and missile forces would “approach close” to Taiwan and practice “seizure of overall control, strikes on sea and land targets, and the blockade and control of key areas and lanes” at sea, Senior Col. Shi Yi, a spokesman for the People’s Liberation Army command that oversees Taiwan, said in a statement issued on Chinese state-run media.

Sometimes, China’s military does not spell out why it holds drills. This time, officials and state media reports were clear: “This is firm punishment for the Lai Ching-te administration’s rampant ‘pro-independence’ provocations,” Zhu Fenglian, a spokeswoman for the Chinese government’s office on Taiwanese affairs, said in a statement.

Ms. Zhu singled out a speech by Mr. Lai on March 13 in which he described China as a “foreign hostile force” and laid out 17 measures that Mr. Lai said would combat deepening Chinese subversion and spying in Taiwan. Those included restoring military tribunals for cases against military personnel who spy, and strengthening oversight of cultural, political and religious exchanges with China. Beijing says that Taiwan is its territory, and that it will eventually absorb the island, by force if Chinese leaders deem that necessary.

But despite Beijing’s fiery language, it was unclear how long the exercises would last, or how close they would approach Taiwan. Military analysts said the exercises appeared intended to intimidate Taiwan, without tipping over into a wider confrontation or crisis. Mr. Lai and his Democratic Progressive Party deny that Taiwan is a part of China — a key premise of Beijing’s claim that the island is its territory — and officials in Beijing have already vehemently denounced Mr. Lai’s recent speech.