Chinese military exercises around Taiwan

Chinese military exercises around Taiwan, sometimes referred to as the Fourth Taiwan Strait Crisis, ^[1] are a series of live-fire military exercises held since August 2022 by the People's Republic of China (PRC) around the island of Taiwan, which is currently under the administrative control of the government of the Republic of China (ROC). The ongoing crisis was initially triggered by the 2022 visit to Taiwan by then-speaker of the United States House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi, which was condemned by the PRC government as a deliberate violation of the United States government's One China policy and an open sign of American scheme to support Taiwan independence.

In response to the Pelosi visit, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) immediately launched massive multi-regional military exercises completely encircling the island of Taiwan. ^[2] These military exercises were the largest show of force around the Taiwan Strait unseen since the end of the Third Taiwan Strait Crisis in 1996, including in areas of the Philippines Sea east of the island for the first time in history. The following year in 2023, PLA launched another round of military exercises demonstrating blockades of the island in response to visit by Pelosi's successor Kevin McCarthy to meet with Tsai Ing-wen, president of the Republic of China. ^[3]

Since 2022, PLA exercises, maritime patrols and even Coast Guard boardings around the Taiwan Strait have subsequently became routine and more encroaching in what has been defined as the "grey-zone tactics". ^[4] The PRC government also declared sovereignty over all airspace above and around the island, publicly renouncing the Davis line, an imaginary median line across the Taiwan Strait that previously marked the de facto territorial waters between the mainland and the island of Taiwan since the 1950s until 2019. ^[5]

Overview

Main articles: Political status of Taiwan and Cross-Strait relations

See also: Modernisation of the People's Liberation Army, Great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, Chinese unification, Chinese Civil War, and First island chain

Since 2022, China has significantly increased the frequency, scale and intensity of military exercises around the island of Taiwan, with the People's Liberation Army (PLA) conducting multiple large-scale drills that surround the island by air and sea and increasingly simulate operations such as blockades and joint land-sea-air maneuvers. These exercises often involve coordinated activity by the PLA's ground, naval, air and rocket forces and have been accompanied by live fire exercises, simulated blockades of key ports and patrols near Taiwan's air defence zone (ADIZ). The Chinese government has framed these actions as warnings to "Taiwan independence separatist forces" (Chinese :台独分裂势力) and "interference by external forces" (外部势力干预), aiming to test combat readiness, joint operational capabilities and anti-access/area-denial tactics around the island. ^{[6] [7] [8]}

Military exercises since 2022

2022

• 2022 Chinese military exercises around Taiwan

2023

• 2023 Chinese military exercises around Taiwan

2024

• Joint Sword-2024A
• Joint Sword-2024B

2025

• Strait Thunder–2025A
• Justice Mission 2025

Analysis

See also: Davidson window

Analysts further link the escalation of these exercises to China's broader rise as a great power. As China's global influence grew since the 2020s, Beijing became more willing to assert its interests in what it considers core sovereignty issues, with Taiwan at the centre of these concerns. ^[9] The drills are widely interpreted as part of a long term effort to normalise sustained PLA operations around the island while improving the credibility of coercive options short of war. In addition, increasing attention has been paid to 2027, a year frequently cited by defence analysts as a milestone by which the PLA is expected to have developed the full spectrum of capabilities required for a potential invasion or blockade of Taiwan. ^[10]

See also

• The First, Second and Third Taiwan Strait Crises
• Three Communiqués, the joint statements underpinning China–United States relations regarding the political status of Taiwan
• 1992 Consensus, the agreement to maintain a peaceful cross-strait relations between Mainland China and Taiwan, under the condition that the latter does not seek to change the status quo by pursuing independence
• Six Assurances and Taiwan Relations Act, unilateral guidelines by the United States regarding its diplomatic relations to sell arms and aid Taiwan, both denounced by the People's Republic of China
• East Sea Air Defense Identification Zone
• Chinese salami slicing strategy and cabbage tactics, strategy by China to use persistent low-level military and militia activities to encircle and gradually seize control of vital islands and surrounding waters.
• Senkaku Islands dispute and Ryukyu independence movement, which are used by China as diplomatic/strategic countermeasures to deter Japanese aid to Taiwan

References

1. Sources describing the situation as a "Fourth Taiwan Strait Crisis" include:
   • "Series: The Fourth Taiwan Strait Crisis". Center for Strategic and International Studies . Retrieved 2025-12-31.
   • Lin, Bonny; Hart, Brian; Funaiole, Matthew P.; Lu, Samantha; Price, Hannah; Kaufman, Nicholas. "Tracking the Fourth Taiwan Strait Crisis". Center for Strategic and International Studies . Retrieved 2025-12-31.
   • Twomey, Christopher P. (2022-08-22). "The Fourth Taiwan Strait Crisis Is Just Starting". War on the Rocks. Retrieved 2025-12-31.
   • Suorsa, Olli Pekka; U-Jin, Adrian Ang (2022-08-17). "Crossing the Line: The Makings of the 4th Taiwan Strait Crisis?". The Diplomat . Retrieved 2025-12-31.
   • Chen, David (2022-08-12). "Learning from the First Phase of the Fourth Taiwan Strait Crisis". China Brief . Vol. 22, no. 15. Jamestown Foundation . Retrieved 2025-12-31.
   • Lee, James (September 2022). "Introduction: The Fourth Taiwan Strait Crisis is Here". Global Asia . Vol. 17, no. 3. South Korea: East Asia Foundation. Retrieved 2025-12-31.
2. Koh Ewe (30 December 2025). "China holds military drills around Taiwan as warning to 'separatist forces'". bbc.com. BBC News . Retrieved 30 December 2025.
3. Kube, Courtney; Jett, Jennifer (6 April 2023). "U.S. lawmakers arrive in Taiwan as China blasts McCarthy's meeting with Tsai". NBC . Retrieved 7 April 2023.
4. Sources describing such actions as "grey-zone tactics" include:
   • Grossman, Derek (March 2025). "The Chinese Communist Party's Gray Zone Tactics Against Taiwan" (PDF). Global Taiwan Institute. Retrieved 2025-12-31.
   • Lee, Sze-Fung (2024-03-20). "Decoding Beijing's Gray Zone Tactics: China Coast Guard Activities and the Redefinition of Conflict in the Taiwan Strait". Global Taiwan Brief. Vol. 9, no. 6. United States: Global Taiwan Institute. Retrieved 2025-12-31.
   • Lin, Bonny; Garafola, Cristina L.; McClintock, Bruce; Blank, Jonah; Hornung, Jeffrey W.; Schwindt, Karen; Moroney, Jennifer D. P.; Orner, Paul; Borrman, Dennis; Denton, Sarah W.; Chambers, Jason (2022-03-30). "A New Framework for Understanding and Countering China's Gray Zone Tactics" (PDF). RAND Corporation . Retrieved 2025-12-31.
   • Guinto, Joel (2023-10-05). "How China is fighting in the grey zone against Taiwan". BBC News . British Broadcasting Corporation . Retrieved 2025-12-31.
   • "Beijing's Grey Zone Tactics Present a Growing Threat to Taiwan". Soufan Center. 2025-07-10. Retrieved 2025-12-31.
5. Johnson, Jesse (2022-09-07). "'New normal' as Chinese warplanes push across Taiwan Strait median line". The Japan Times . Retrieved 2025-12-31.
6. John Dotson (8 September 2022). "An Overview of Chinese Military Activity Near Taiwan in Early August 2022, Part 2: Aviation Activity, and Naval and Ground Force Exercises". globaltaiwan.org. Global Taiwan Institute. Retrieved 30 December 2025.
7. Brian Hart; Bonny Lin; Samantha Lu; Hannah Price; Matthew Slade (10 April 2023). "Tracking China's April 2023 Military Exercises around Taiwan". chinapower.csis.org. Center for Strategic and International Studies . Retrieved 30 December 2025.
8. Amrita Jash (2 October 2024). "China's Military Exercises Around Taiwan: Trends and Patterns". globaltaiwan.org. Global Taiwan Institute. Retrieved 30 December 2025.
9. Stevens, Friso M. S. (21 November 2025). "A Revanchist Chinese Foreign Policy, with Xi Jinping's Politics in Command". Journal of Contemporary China . University of Helsinki: Taylor & Francis: 1–20. doi:10.1080/10670564.2025.2589803.
10. Fang Wei-li; Jonathan Chin (29 November 2025). "Experts clarify the significance of 2027 for China". Taipei Times . Retrieved 30 December 2025.