China encircles Taiwan with live-fire drill as invasion panic grows

A Taiwan air force fighter jet takes off from a base after China launched large-scale war games around the island (Image: AFP via Getty Images)

China has deployed land, air and sea assets for major joint military drills around the island of Taiwan. Beijing called the move a "stern warning" against separatist and "external interference" forces.

In response, Taiwan said it was placing its forces on alert and called the Chinese government "the biggest destroyer of peace". The drills came after Beijing expressed anger at US arms sales to the territory and a statement by Japan's prime minister. Sanae Takaichi said Japanese forces could get involved if China were to take action against Taiwan, the self-governing island that the world's second-biggest economy says must come under its rule.

Taiwan has launched rapid response exercises in reaction to China's war games around the island (Image: Getty)

But the Chinese military did not mention the United States and Japan in its statement on Monday morning.

In a post on X, Taiwan's defence ministry confirmed rapid response exercises were underway, with forces on high alert to defend the island around 100 miles off the coast of China.

In a separate statement, it said it had also deployed appropriate forces in response, conducting combat readiness drills.

File image of Chinese navy ships (Image: Getty)

“The Chinese Communist Party’s targeted military exercises further confirm its nature as an aggressor and the biggest destroyer of peace,” the ministry said.

Ships from Taiwan's coast guard have also been mobilised in response to the activity.

Officials said two Chinese military aircraft and 11 ships had been operating around Taiwan over the past 24 hours.

The Reuters news agency reported Taipei's aviation authority said China had designated a "temporary danger zone" in the island's airspace for 10 hours of live fire drills. 

A spokesperson for China's People Liberation Army's (PLA) Eastern Theatre Command said the drills would take place in the Taiwan Strait and areas to the north, south-west, south-east and east of the island.

Senior Colonel Shi Yi said the activities will focus on sea-air combat readiness patrol, “joint seizure of comprehensive superiority” and blockades on key ports. 

It was also the first large-scale military drill where the command publicly mentioned one of the goals was “all-dimensional deterrence outside the island chain".

“It is a stern warning against ‘Taiwan independence’ separatist forces and external interference forces, and it is a legitimate and necessary action to safeguard China’s sovereignty and national unity," the spokesperson added.

The command said fighter jets, bombers and drones, along with long-range rocket launchers, were all part of the drills.

The war games are expected to run between 8am and 6pm local time on Tuesday.

China and Taiwan have been governed separately since 1949, when a civil war brought the Communist Party to power in Beijing.

Defeated Nationalist Party forces fled to Taiwan and the island has operated since then with its own government.

However, Beijing continues to claim Taiwan as sovereign territory.