The reason for using the word “surprise” in a headline about yet another spate of sudden Chinese military drills to intimidate its old enemy across the Taiwan Strait is a mystery, but here it is in The Guardian: “China launches surprise military drills around Taiwan” (April 1, 2025).
Taiwan’s defence ministry said it had detected 71 PLA aircraft and at least 19 Navy and Coast Guard vessels on Tuesday, including the Chinese aircraft carrier Shandong. More than 10 of the ships approached close to Taiwan’s contiguous zone, which stretches 24 nautical miles (44km) from the coast, military officials told Reuters. Taiwan’s military had deployed aircraft, Navy ships, and coastal missile systems in response, the ministry said….
Taiwan’s presidential office spokesperson, Wen Lii, condemned China’s “escalatory behaviour” and “military provocations”, linking it to other recent exercises near Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Korea, the Philippines and in the South China Sea.
“China’s wide-ranging drills indicate that its ambitions are not limited to annexing Taiwan, but rather aim to achieve hegemony in the western Pacific.”…
Taiwan’s government and military have been ramping up their response training amid growing concern that Beijing might launch a real attack or blockade under the guise of a drill.
In the latest fusillade of propaganda attending the latest simulated or virtual invasion, the CCP calls the Taipei government “parasites” as well as “separatists.” President Lai Ching-te is described as a “parasite courting ultimate destruction.”
We also hear, from Guo Jiakun, foreign ministry spokesman, of how “China’s reunification is an unstoppable trend” that “will happen…must happen.”
From Zhu Anqing, East China Sea Bureau spokesman, that the drills “exercise legitimate jurisdiction and control over the island in accordance with the one-China principle.”
From a professor at PLA National Defense University, Meng Xiangqing, that the drills are “reasonable, justifiable, and lawful.”
From a professor at the Chinese People’s Army National Defense University, Zhang Chi, that the purpose of the “law-enforcement patrols…is to consolidate the situation where the PLA conducts routine management and control over the island of Taiwan and the outer islands according to the one-China principle,” a way of saying they’re never going to stop until it’s done.
A new normal
China Daily says Zhang has “pointed out that in the series of exercises and training maneuvers in areas near Taiwan Island, the PLA has continuously advanced deeper and closer to the island of Taiwan.”
And, says Zhang, “That has helped the PLA become more familiar with and adept at navigating the battlefield environment in the Taiwan Strait. The exercises we are witnessing around the Taiwan Strait have become a new normal. For the PLA and its Eastern Theater Command, these exercises are now everyday business.”
