China carries out live-fire exercises in drill encircling Taiwan
The exercise, codenamed "Strait Thunder", is an escalation of military drills China held on Tuesday around Taiwan, the democratic island Beijing claims as its territory.
Taiwan's presidential office said on Tuesday that it "strongly condemns" the "military provocations", which have become increasingly routine amid souring cross-strait ties.
The drills come as China sharpened its rhetoric against Taiwan's President Lai Ching-te, labelling him a "parasite" and "separatist". Lai had earlier this month referred to China as a "foreign hostile force".
The drills were meant to be a "serious warning and powerful containment of 'Taiwan independence' separatist forces", said a statement from China's People's Liberation Army (PLA).
It also released a series of cartoons depicting Lai as a "parasite" that was "poisoning Taiwan island" and - along with an image of Lai being grilled over a fire - "courting ultimate destruction".
Another video by the PLA, titled "Subdue demons and vanquish evils", likened the military's capabilities to the magical powers of the Monkey King, a mythical Chinese character.
In recent days, the Chinese Communist Party newspaper People's Daily published a series of op-eds denouncing Lai as a "troublemaker" and "warmonger".
"Facts have fully proven that Lai Ching-te is a vicious war maker," read one of the articles published on Wednesday. "Subdue demons and vanquish evils, use force to stop war."
While the trigger for this week's drills were not spelled out, Chinese authorities and state media have referenced a slew of policies announced by Lai last month to counter influence and infiltration operations by Beijing - where Lai used the "foreign hostile force" term.
However, the timing of the exercises, coming weeks after Lai's announcement, suggests that Chinese authorities wanted to wait for the conclusion of meetings between Chinese President Xi Jinping and international business leaders, along with the annual Boao business summit that wrapped up on 28 March.
They also come with the world's attention turned elsewhere, as global markets brace for the Trump administration's latest round of tariffs.
In response to China's latest military drills, the White House said on Tuesday that US President Donald Trump was "emphasising the importance of maintaining peace in the Taiwan Strait". On Wednesday, the US State Department reaffirmed its "enduring commitment" to Taiwan.
During his recent visit to Asia, US defence secretary Pete Hegseth also repeatedly criticised China's aggression in the region and pledged to provide "robust, ready and credible deterrence", including in the Taiwan Strait.
However, the PLA seems to be moving towards a situation where such exercises around Taiwan occur regularly rather than in response to any specific perceived provocation.
Some experts see the drills as a dress rehearsal for a possible real blockade in an attempt to overthrow the government in Taipei in the future.
In the words of the Chinese military this week, they serve as a practice run "close in on Taiwan from all directions".
In addition, analysts believe that Beijing has been increasing the frequency and size of its military exercises as a way of trying to increase pressure on Taiwan's population to eventually accept an annexation by China as inevitable.
This is despite the fact that opinion polls have routinely shown that the vast majority of Taiwanese people firmly oppose a takeover of their democratically governed island group by China's Communist Party.
Taiwanese officials have warned that China may stage more military drills later this year, on dates like the anniversary of Lai taking office or Taiwan's National Day in October.
However, in Taiwan, movements by the PLA can also provide an opportunity.
Each time China conducts such war games, Taiwan's military chiefs have said that they can study the manoeuvres in order to better prepare their own forces for any real attack.
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China's rhetoric turns dangerously real for Taiwanese
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