Japan on Wednesday expressed concern over recent Chinese military drills conducted around Taiwan, which included missile launches as well as naval and aerial maneuvers, amid escalating tensions between the two sides. Taipei, meanwhile, announced the withdrawal of Chinese vessels from waters surrounding the island.
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Toshihiro Kitamura, spokesperson for Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said: “The recent military drills carried out by Chinese forces around Taiwan constitute actions that heighten tensions across the Taiwan Strait, and the Japanese government has conveyed its concerns to the Chinese side.”
He added that these military exercises “escalate the dispute into a comprehensive conflict,” as China continues to claim Taiwan as part of its territory, according to the South China Morning Post.
Beijing has maintained that the drills were conducted to test what it described as combat readiness and to issue a “serious warning” against any moves toward Taiwan’s independence.
Kitamura said in a statement: “The Japanese government’s consistent position is that it expects the Taiwan-related issue to be resolved peacefully through dialogue.”
He added: “Peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait are important to the international community as a whole, and we will continue to closely monitor related developments.”
Beijing launched large-scale live-fire drills and maritime blockade exercises around Taiwan on Monday and Tuesday, including missile launches and the deployment of destroyers and missile-launching bombers, according to the Chinese People’s Liberation Army.
Chinese Warning to “Separatist Forces”
Earlier on Tuesday, China said: “These drills constitute a serious warning to separatist forces advocating Taiwan independence and to interfering external forces. They are a legitimate and necessary measure to safeguard national sovereignty and territorial unity.”
Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense said that five of the seven zones designated by Chinese authorities for live-fire drills overlapped with Taiwan’s territorial waters, defined as extending 12 nautical miles from its coastline.
The Chinese military noted that it deployed destroyers, bombers, and other units on Tuesday to train in maritime strike operations, air defense, and anti-submarine warfare. The drills were intended to “test the ability of naval and air forces to coordinate for integrated containment and control.”
The Eastern Theater Command of the Chinese military said on Monday that simulating a blockade of the vital deep-water port of Keelung in northern Taiwan and Kaohsiung in southern Taiwan—the island’s largest port—was a key focus of the exercises.
This marks the sixth round of major Chinese military drills since 2022, following the visit by then U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to the island, which Beijing considers an inseparable part of its territory.
The drills come amid heightened Chinese rhetoric over Beijing’s regional claims, after Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi indicated that a Chinese attack on Taiwan could prompt a military response from Tokyo, triggering a sharp diplomatic crisis between Beijing and Tokyo.
A previous assessment by the U.S. Department of Defense (Pentagon), cited by Reuters, predicted that China could be “capable of waging a war on Taiwan and winning it by the end of 2027,” which marks the centenary of the founding of the Chinese military.
