The exercises, which China has not formally named unlike war games last year, are happening after a rise in Chinese rhetoric against Lai and follow on the heels of U.S. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth's Asia visit, during which he repeatedly criticised Beijing.
This is not the first time China has either simulated an attack or put Taiwan under a lockdown.
China considers democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory and detests Lai as a “separatist.” In a video accompanying its drill announcement, the Eastern Theatre Command called him a “parasite” in English and depicted him as a green bug held by chopsticks over a burning Taiwan.
Taiwan's government rejects Beijing's sovereignty claims, saying only the island's people can decide their future.
Taiwan has not detected any live fire by the Chinese military, the officials said.
“China’s reunification is an unstoppable trend -- it will happen, and it must happen” Guo Jiakun, a spokesperson, said at a regular news conference on Tuesday.
Taiwan's Defence Ministry said in a statement that China's Shandong aircraft carrier group had entered the island's response area on Monday, adding that it had dispatched military aircraft and ships and activated land-based missile systems in response.
A senior Taiwan security official told Reuters, citing internal assessments, that Beijing needed to avoid any “perceived confrontation” with Washington prior to the U.S.-China trade talks, and thus Taiwan has become a pretext.
The de facto U.S. embassy, the American Institute in Taiwan, said the United States will continue to support the island.
“Closing In”
A video of a poster accompanying the drills titled “Closing In,“ and showing Chinese forces surrounding the island, was released on the Eastern Theatre Command’s Weibo.
“Parasite poisoning Taiwan island. Parasite hollowing Island out. Parasite courting ultimate destruction,“ the animation said.
A third video, “Subdue Demons and Vanquish Evils”, featured Sun Wukong, the magical monkey king from the Ming Dynasty epic “Journey to the West” as he is depicted in the “Black Myth: Wukong” hit video game.
A fourth poster, released later in the day and titled “Enveloping Advance”, had the Chinese characters of its title covering the island and ships and bomber aircraft positioned to its northwest and southeast.
China's military has undergone a sweeping anti-corruption purge over the past few years, which saw former Chinese Defence Minister Li Shangfu ousted in October 2024.
The Taiwan security source, citing internal intelligence assessments, said China was trying to busy its military with exercises as a way of distracting and stopping its soldiers from discussing the corruption crackdown amongst themselves on base.
The Global Times, which is owned by the People’s Daily newspaper of the governing Chinese Communist Party, said the drill had not been given a code name to show that Chinese military forces surrounding the island “has become a normal practice,“ citing Zhang Chi of National Defence University.
“Through a series of exercises held in the Taiwan Strait in recent years, the PLA has strongly enhanced its ability to prepare for war and fight battles,“ the article on the paper’s Weixin social media page added.
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