Geline Salac

This picture taken on October 30, 2023 shows a view of the Taipei 101 building in Taipei. Jauhn Etienne Villaruel, ABS-CBN News/File

Article (news)

Taipei

Agence France-Presse

<p>TAIPEI, Taiwan — China&#x27;s military said it practiced hitting key ports and energy sites during &quot;live-fire&quot; drills Wednesday as part of exercises aimed at Taiwan, the democratic island it claims as its own.</p><p>The surprise maneuvers were criticized by Washington as &quot;intimidation tactics&quot; and come after Taiwan President Lai Ching-te called China a &quot;foreign hostile force.&quot;</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/world/2025/4/1/china-deploys-shandong-aircraft-carrier-group-near-taiwan-1131">China deploys Shandong aircraft carrier group near Taiwan</a></div><p>Named &quot;Strait Thunder-2025A&quot;, the drills are located in the middle and southern parts of the strait, the military said, which is a vital artery for global shipping.</p><p>The military said it held &quot;long-range live-fire drills&quot; and practiced hitting &quot;simulated targets of key ports and energy facilities&quot; during the exercises.</p><p>Wednesday&#x27;s exercises aim to &quot;test the troops&#x27; capabilities&quot; in areas such as &quot;blockade and control, and precision strikes on key targets&quot;, said Senior Colonel Shi Yi, spokesman of the Chinese military&#x27;s Eastern Theater Command.</p><p>Taiwan&#x27;s defense ministry confirmed China&#x27;s military drills were ongoing but did not elaborate.</p><p>Taiwan is a potential flashpoint between China and the United States, which is the island&#x27;s most important security partner.</p><p>The US State Department said Beijing&#x27;s &quot;aggressive&quot; military activities and rhetoric towards Taiwan &quot;only serve to exacerbate tensions and put the region&#x27;s security and the world&#x27;s prosperity at risk&quot;.</p><p>Chinese leaders vigorously oppose Washington&#x27;s support for Taiwan and detest Lai, who they call a &quot;separatist&quot;.</p><p>Drills in the strait come a day after China sent its army, navy, air and rocket forces to surround Taiwan for exercises Beijing said were aimed at practicing for &quot;precision strikes&quot; and a blockade of the island.</p><p>That prompted Taipei to dispatch its own air and maritime forces as part of a &quot;Rapid Response Exercise&quot;.</p><p>Taiwan&#x27;s defense ministry said Tuesday China had deployed 21 warships around the island, including the Shandong aircraft carrier group, along with 71 aircraft and four coast guard vessels.</p><p>That was the highest number of warships detected during a single day in nearly a year, and the most aircraft since October 2024.</p><div><strong>&#x27;ROBUST&#x27; DETERRENCE</strong><strong></strong><strong><br/></strong></div><p>Beijing has increased the deployment of fighter jets and naval vessels around Taiwan in recent years to press its claim of sovereignty, which Taipei rejects.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2025/4/1/philippines-inevitably-involved-if-taiwan-invaded-afp-chief-0738">Philippines &#x27;inevitably&#x27; involved if Taiwan invaded: AFP chief</a></div><p>Tensions between Taipei and Beijing have escalated since Lai took office in May 2024 and adopted tougher rhetoric than his predecessor Tsai Ing-wen in defending the island&#x27;s sovereignty.</p><p>While Taiwan sees itself as a sovereign country, only 11 mostly Pacific and Caribbean countries and the Vatican recognize its claim to statehood.</p><p>Last month, Lai called China a &quot;foreign hostile force&quot; and proposed measures to combat growing Chinese espionage and infiltration, angering Beijing.</p><p>US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth vowed &quot;robust, ready and credible deterrence&quot; in the strait during a visit to the region last week.</p><p>Taipei analyst Wen-Ti Sung said China was using &quot;stress test after stress test&quot; to gauge the strength of US President Donald Trump&#x27;s support for Taiwan and other allies in the region.</p><p>The United States is legally bound to provide arms to Taiwan, but Washington has long maintained &quot;strategic ambiguity&quot; when it comes to whether it would deploy its military to defend the island from a Chinese attack.</p><p>China has carried out several large-scale exercises around the island in recent years, often described as rehearsals for a blockade and seizure of the territory.</p><p>Analysts have speculated that China was more likely to attempt a blockade of Taiwan than launch an all-out invasion, which was riskier and would require a huge military deployment.</p><p>The dispute between China and Taiwan dates back to 1949 when Chiang Kai-shek&#x27;s Kuomintang nationalist forces fled to Taiwan after losing the Chinese civil war with Mao Zedong&#x27;s communist fighters.</p><p>While Taiwan has never declared formal independence, Lai and Tsai, who both belong to the Democratic Progressive Party, share the position that Taiwan is &quot;already independent.&quot;</p><div><strong>— By Joy Chiang with Mary Yang in Pingtan, Agence France-Presse</strong></div><div><strong>RELATED VIDEO</strong></div><div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/jUETBlQ5ih0?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br/></div>

<p>Taiwan is a potential flashpoint between China and the United States, which is the island's most important security partner.</p>

Taiwan is a potential flashpoint between China and the United States, which is the island's most important security partner.