China holds military drills around Taiwan, calling its president a ‘parasite'
HONG KONG — The Chinese military conducted large-scale drills around Taiwan on Tuesday in what it said was a 'stern warning' to pro-independence forces on the Beijing-claimed island, as it called Taiwan's president a 'parasite.'
The Taiwan government condemned the exercises, in which Chinese army, navy, air and rocket forces closed in on waters to the north, south and east of Taiwan, according to China's People's Liberation Army (PLA). No live fire has been reported.
Tensions have been heightened since last month, when Taiwan President Lai Ching-te described China as a 'foreign hostile force' and proposed 17 measures to counter threats from Beijing, which has not ruled out the use of force to achieve its unification goal.
Beijing has rebuffed offers of talks from Lai, who says only the island's 23 million people can decide their future.
The Chinese drills were accompanied by the release of multiple propaganda images and videos. One cartoon video titled 'Shell' depicts Lai, whom Beijing calls a 'separatist' and 'troublemaker,' as a 'parasite' held by a pair of chopsticks over a Taiwan on fire.
'Parasite poisoning Taiwan Island. Parasite hollowing island out. Parasite courting ultimate destruction,' text in the video reads.
A poster titled 'Closing In' shows Chinese ships and aircraft surrounding Taiwan, while a video called 'Subdue Demons and Vanquish Evils' features the monkey king from the Chinese epic 'Journey to the West.'
China's Taiwan Affairs Office called the military drills a 'resolute punishment for the reckless provocations' of the Lai administration.
'Pursuing 'Taiwan independence' means pushing the people of Taiwan into a dangerous situation of war,' spokesperson Zhu Fenglian said at a briefing in Beijing on Tuesday. 'We will not allow any person or force to separate Taiwan from China.'
A spokesperson for the PLA's Eastern Theater Command called the exercises a 'legitimate and necessary' action to safeguard China's sovereignty.
'These drills mainly focus on sea-air combat-readiness patrols, joint seizure of comprehensive superiority, assault on maritime and ground targets, and blockade on key areas and sea lanes,' the spokesperson, Shi Yi, said in a statement Tuesday.
Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense said 19 Chinese navy ships were detected around Taiwan in the 24 hours to 6 a.m. Tuesday local time (6 p.m. Monday ET), adding that it has been tracking China's first domestically built Shandong aircraft carrier since Saturday.
'We strongly condemn the PRC's irrational provocations,' it said in a statement Tuesday, referring to China's official name, the People's Republic of China. 'We firmly oppose PLA's actions that undermine regional peace.'
Taiwan's military has activated aircraft, navy ships and land-based missile systems in response to the Chinese drills, the ministry added.
The drills on Tuesday were higher-profile than the three China has held around Taiwan since President Donald Trump was elected in November. They also did not carry the same 'Joint Sword' code name as exercises of similar scale last October and May, which experts said suggests the Chinese military is normalizing such drills around Taiwan.
Beijing 'very obviously' deployed more troops than in earlier joint air and maritime combat-readiness patrols, said Ying-Yu Lin, assistant professor at the Graduate Institute of International Affairs and Strategic Studies at Tamkang University in New Taipei City.
The exercises were intended to 'test the U.S. bottom line' on Taiwan before a potential meeting between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, Lin told NBC News in a phone interview Tuesday.
Though the U.S. has no official ties with Taiwan, a self-governing democracy, it is the island's most important international backer and is bound by law to provide it with defensive weapons.
The exercises took place two days after Pete Hegseth concluded his first trip to Asia as defense secretary. During his visit to U.S. allies the Philippines and Japan, Hegseth criticized China's growing aggression in the region and called Japan an 'indispensable partner' in deterring it.
Taiwan Defense Minister Wellington Koo said Tuesday that Beijing was an 'obvious troublemaker' disrupting peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, and that the 'parasite' rhetoric fully demonstrated Beijing's provocation.
He told reporters the Chinese military should focus on tackling internal corruption rather than holding drills in the region. Last year, Beijing fired two former defense ministers amid an anti-corruption campaign in its military.
Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council condemned the Chinese drills, urging Beijing to 'immediately cease irrational provocative actions.'
China's 'militaristic provocations not only escalate tensions in the Taiwan Strait but also severely undermine regional peace and stability and threaten global security,' it said in a statement Tuesday.
Though Taiwanese authorities view Beijing as a serious threat, most people on the island believe China is 'unlikely or very unlikely' to invade in the next five years, according to a poll released last year by Taiwan's top military think tank.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
21 minutes ago
- Yahoo
U.S.-China trade war on hold as talks reboot in London
Top trade officials from the U.S. and China were meeting in London on Monday, the second such meeting in the past month and one aiming to quell rising tensions between the two superpowers over tariffs and other trade policies. The meeting kicked off just days after President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping engaged in an extended phone conversation, after which Trump offered an upbeat download on the conversation. 'I just concluded a very good phone call with President Xi, of China, discussing some of the intricacies of our recently made, and agreed to, Trade Deal,' Trump said on Truth Social last Friday. 'The call lasted approximately one and a half hours, and resulted in a very positive conclusion for both Countries. There should no longer be any questions respecting the complexity of Rare Earth products. Our respective teams will be meeting shortly at a location to be determined.' U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick and U.S. Trade Representative, Ambassador Jamieson Greer are leading the U.S. delegation and early reports on the talks were optimistic. National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett on Monday told CNBC's 'Squawk Box' that the U.S. was seeking confirmation China would restore the flows of critical minerals. 'The purpose of the meeting today is to make sure that they're serious, but to literally get handshakes ... and get this thing behind us,' Hassett said. He added that he expected it 'to be a short meeting with a big, strong handshake.' While White House officials were signaling expectations for a positive outcome from the latest round of talks, some trade experts predicted the road to a new U.S.-China agreement could be a long one. Zhiwei Zhang, president and chief economist of Pinpoint Asset Management, told CNBC that it could take months for trade tensions to be resolved. 'I don't really have very high expectations for these trade talks ... I doubt they will reach an agreement very soon,' he told CNBC on Monday. 'There could be some resolution on specific issues, like a rare earths, for instance, China already announced that they will give some permits to foreign firms applying for imports. Now, those kind of a temporary solution, we might see some of that come out. But I doubt we will have a complete solution coming from this dialogue in the U.K.,' Zhang added. In spite of a temporary U.S.-China trade agreement coming out of talks held on May 12 in Geneva, Switzerland, tensions arose earlier this month after Trump accused China of breaching terms of the deal. 'The bad news is that China, perhaps not surprisingly to some, HAS TOTALLY VIOLATED ITS AGREEMENT WITH US. So much for being Mr. NICE GUY!' Trump wrote on Truth Social. Last week, ahead of the call between Trump and Xi, China hit back on Trump's claims the Asian country was in breach of a new trade agreement, countering that the U.S. itself was undermining the deal with new sanctions. A statement from China's Ministry of Commerce released last Monday said Trump administration actions 'seriously undermine the existing consensus reached at the Geneva economic and trade talks, and seriously damage China's legitimate rights and interests.' Chinese officials also pointed to recent signaling from the U.S. about potential new regulations for advanced microchips and the revocation of U.S. visas for Chinese students, per CBS News, as evidence that the U.S. was acting in bad faith following the trade deal. Trump's complaint stemmed from his concerns over China's export rules on rare earth minerals. China controls 90% of the world's rare earth elements production capacity and, according to the U.S. Department of Energy, the minerals play a critical role in U.S. national security, energy independence and economic growth. Many advanced technologies have components made from rare earth materials such as magnets, batteries, phosphors and catalysts.

Miami Herald
41 minutes ago
- Miami Herald
Minnesota factories see orders tank on continued trade uncertainty
President Donald Trump said his tariff policy is expected to drive more business to U.S. manufacturing plants. But many Minnesota factory heads have yet to see it, and instead are juggling budgets as orders dry up while their own costs continue to rise. "The tariffs have just caused us havoc. Complete and utter havoc," said Dave Wedge, who manages Minnesota Twist Drill's Chisholm and Hibbing drill bit factories. Trump's latest tariff increases went into effect Wednesday as levies on steel and aluminum imports went from 25% to 50%. Todd Olson , co-owner of Twin Cities Die Castings in Minneapolis, said the tariff increases create another round of the uncertainty that has plagued his metal parts components factory since Trump's trade war began. In the past few months, supply costs surged while sales flattened. His aerospace and ag component orders have slowed. And his car-making customers are once again putting off redesigning vehicle models because of the metal tariffs, Olson said. "It's like oil," he said. "Just the uncertainty of this world market with the tariffs has raised prices." Last year, Olson added 25 workers, boosting his staff to 175. Over the past few months, he froze hiring and terminated 10 contract workers. The company also had to increase prices twice in the last 90 days, even though the thousands of tons of aluminum and magnesium he buys are all domestically sourced. On Friday, the U.S. Labor Department released monthly jobs data that showed a slowing in hiring nationwide. With Trump's frequently changing tariff policies, customers are constantly calling to learn Twin Cities Die Castings' latest prices. "We've got an absolute glut of request for quotations. But nobody, nobody's doing anything. It's just been in a total holding pattern," Olson said. "Nobody's making any decisions until they can kind of see the mid- to long-term path. And that's pretty consistent across not only in our industry, but for other CEOs I talked to." At Twist Drill, Wedge said he expects sales to be flat for the year if he's lucky. Without knowing what was ahead, Twist Drill closed its heat-treating operation in Chisholm six months ago and started importing 100% of its steel blanks from China, instead of the prior level of 25%. So the company was suddenly shelling out tens of thousands of dollars in unexpected trade taxes after Trump raised tariffs on Chinese goods. Worse, the tariffs kept changing. Twist Drill then had to spend more money because of new retaliatory tariffs stemming from Trump's trade war with Canada. Twist Drill ships most of its finished machined drill bits from Chisholm to its parent company in Canada. Now, Wedge needs to factor in the doubling of steel and aluminum tariffs. "This is having a negative effect on us," Wedge said. "It's just not a good situation. And I never imagined this. I figured, you know, they'd throw these tariffs out, and there would be some back and forth, and then it would be over. But everybody's really sticking to their guns." In two months, the company increased prices twice. It is cutting costs, putting off new supply orders and considering opening its machining shop to third-party customers, Wedge said. That would bring in revenue not subject to tariffs. Twist Drill also is considering buying specialty equipment so it can make specialty drill bits for U.S. customers, he said. "I'm hoping that we can still make our budgeted sales. But of course, you know, our profits will be less," Wedge said. "Right now it's all so volatile. ... We can't plan anything, which is the frustrating part." Trump believes the tariffs, especially the aluminum and steel levies, will bring business back to U.S. companies. He also has said it is for national security reasons. So far, economic data has not shown definitively whether the policies have worked. The trade deficit fell 16.3% from March to April, the biggest month-to-month decrease on record, the government said Thursday. But much of that plunge was from companies stocking up in the early months of the year before tariffs increased, economists said. They also pointed to the fact that any change of that magnitude means a reduction in economic activity. The Fed's latest Beige Book report Wednesday also indicated economic activity has declined in recent weeks. Another report this week, from the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, said its research shows that half of tariff expenses will be passed to customers. That's less than when Trump raised tariffs in his first term. But it also means many customers won't be able to continue absorbing higher costs after years of sticky inflation. So either profits will go down, or companies will need to cut costs. Many on the Iron Range, though, support the higher steel and aluminum tariffs, even as they acknowledge the volatile nature of the results of Trump's policies. "It's a complex issue and we recognize that at the IMA because of the various ways tariffs impact our vast membership," said Kristen Vake, executive director of the Iron Mining Association of Minnesotac, in an email. "The big picture [is] we need fair trade," she said. "In order for the iron mining [and taconite] industry to continue thriving, we need a healthy domestic steel market." Still, not everyone is convinced 50% steel and aluminum tariffs or steeply higher levies on China are the way to go. In Congress, U.S. Rep. Kelly Morrison, the DFLer who represents west and northwest Twin Cities suburbs, said she worries the tariffs will hurt small companies. "I've heard from so many small-business owners who are in disbelief, frustrated, and scared that everything they've worked so hard to build is being taken away from them," Morrison said in an email. Copyright (C) 2025, Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Portions copyrighted by the respective providers.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Opinion - Despite military purges, China's next war ‘could be imminent' and spread fast
'There's no reason to sugarcoat it,' Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on May 31 at the Shangri-La Dialogue, Asia's premier security conference. 'The threat China poses is real. And it could be imminent.' Hegseth is right: America needs to urgently prepare for war. War is coming to East Asia, and Taiwan — to which Hegseth was referring — is a target of Chinese aggression. Chinese President Xi Jinping, after all, has staked his personal legitimacy on annexing it as China's 34th province. Yet the U.S. and its partners have to be ready for anything at any place and at any time. Why? The Chinese regime, which is mobilizing all of society for war, is now unstable. It is not clear who, if anyone, is in charge. Therefore, the regime could take us by surprise. One thing we know: Xi's most senior loyalist in uniform has disappeared from public view. Gen. He Weidong, a vice chairman of the Communist Party's Central Military Commission and the second highest-ranked uniformed officer, was last seen in public on March 11, at the end of the Communist Party's major political event of the year, the so-called Two Sessions. Many report that Xi sacked He. It's true that Xi, since being named general secretary of the party in November 2012, has purged many military officers, ostensibly for 'corruption,' and restructured the People's Liberation Army. Both moves resulted in his taking firm control of the military. Some have therefore assumed that Xi, for some reason, turned on his most important supporter in the military in March. However, it is not likely that Xi took down He. On the contrary, it is much more probable that Xi's adversaries removed that general. While Xi loyalists were being removed from public view, PLA Daily, the Chinese military's main propaganda organ, ran a series of articles praising 'collective leadership,' a direct rejection of Xi's continual calls for unity, centralization of control and complete obedience to his rule. These articles, which began appearing last July, were written by people aligned with the top-ranked uniformed officer, Central Military Commission Vice Chairman Gen. Zhang Youxia. The propaganda pieces could not have appeared if Xi were in complete control of the military. Moreover, He's disappearance was followed by the disappearance of another Xi loyalist, Gen. He Hongjun. Rumors started that both generals had died by suicide in May at the military's 301 Hospital in Beijing. Whether they are alive or not, they are out of the way, so their disappearance spells trouble for Xi. 'Gen. He Weidong was instrumental in Xi's earlier purges in the military, so his disappearance could indicate a great threat to Xi's authority,' Charles Burton of the Sinopsis think tank noted in comments to me this month. The recent disappearances follow the sackings of, among others, Gen. Li Shangfu, a defense minister, Gen. Wei Fenghe, one of Li's predecessors and perhaps as many as 70 in the Rocket Force, the branch responsible for the country's nuclear weapons. Given all the turmoil in the Chinese military, America and its partners need to focus on more than just Taiwan. In fact, the main island of Taiwan might be the least likely target. To start hostilities by attacking Taiwan's main island, China would need to launch a combined air-land-sea operation. To do that, Xi would have to give a general or admiral almost complete control over the military. The appointed flag officer would thereby become the most powerful figure in China. Even in the calmest of times, Xi would be reluctant to create such a rival for power, but this is by no means a calm moment in Beijing. China's leader seems to have lost substantial influence recently — so much so that there is speculation he could be pushed out of power in the coming months. Whoever is controlling the purges — Xi or his political enemies — the Chinese military does not look ready to launch a complex operation such as a Taiwan invasion. Either Xi does not have the power to order an invasion because the military no longer answers to him, or Xi does not trust the most senior officers, a precondition for such a complex undertaking. Despite all the turmoil in the leadership ranks, Hegseth was right to talk about an imminent war. The disruptive leadership moves in China have not prevented the Chinese military from engaging in low-level but especially provocative actions in the last couple of months against countries to China's south and east. We do not know whether China's regime has made the decision to go to war, but its series of dangerous actions clearly reveals it has made the decision to risk war. And war, if it begins somewhere, will likely spread. For one thing, the Chinese leadership will not be able to deal with incidents responsibly. In senior Communist Party circles these days, only the most hostile answers are considered acceptable. Another factor is the existence of alliance and semi-alliance networks in the region. Four of China's targets, South Korea, Japan, the Philippines, and Australia, are U.S. treaty allies, and one, Taiwan, is protected by the United States. China, for its part, could bring in its friends. Moreover, the U.S. should be prepared for conflict with the world's most destructive weapons. 'China has spent the last five decades investing in building nuclear proxy forces in Pakistan, North Korea and Iran to create nuclear crises to divert Washington's attention away from the Taiwan Strait,' Richard Fisher of the International Assessment and Strategy Center told me this month. 'China's investment in Russia's war in Ukraine is in the same vein.' As Blaine Holt, a retired U.S. Air Force brigadier general, said after Hegseth's comments, 'Millions of lives now hang in the balance.' Gordon G. Chang is the author of 'Plan Red: China's Project to Destroy America' and 'The Coming Collapse of China.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.