China Fires 27 Rockets Into Taiwan’s Waters in 2nd Day of Military Drills

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Dec 31, 2025 - 10:54 Updated: Dec 31, 2025 - 02:05
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China Fires 27 Rockets Into Taiwan’s Waters in 2nd Day of Military Drills

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TAIPEI, Taiwan—China’s military fired 27 rockets into waters north and south of Taiwan from its coastal Fujian Province on Dec. 30, marking the second day of a new round of military drills intended to erode Taiwanese people’s confidence in their military’s ability to defend the island, according to Taiwan’s defense ministry.

Ten of the rockets landed within southern Taiwan’s 24-nautical-mile contiguous zone, marking the closest proximity to the island ever recorded for China’s live-fire drills, the defense ministry said at a Tuesday afternoon press conference on the communist regime’s military exercises, which Beijing has dubbed “Justice Mission 2025.”

The remaining 17 rockets landed outside of northern Taiwan’s contiguous zone, the ministry added, and none of the 27 flew over Taiwan.

Taiwan’s military detected 130 sorties by Chinese military aircraft, along with 14 navy vessels and eight official ships operating near the island, between 6 a.m. local time on Monday and 6 a.m. local time on Tuesday. Of those sorties, 90 crossed the Taiwan Strait median line and entered the northern, central, southwestern, and eastern parts of the island’s air defense identification zone.

Over the following nine hours, from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. local time on Tuesday, Taiwan’s military detected 71 sorties by Chinese military aircraft, along with 13 military vessels, 15 coast guard ships, and an amphibious assault formation consisting of four ships. According to the defense ministry, none of these vessels breached Taiwan’s territorial sea, or 12 nautical miles from the shore.

Military officials at the press conference emphasized that the Chinese regime was waging cognitive warfare alongside the drills.

“Chinese state media claimed to have blockaded four ports in Taiwan—this is outright disinformation,” Hsieh Ching-chin, deputy director-general of Taiwan’s Coast Guard Administration, said in Mandarin, according to a translation.

Lt. Gen. Hsieh Jih-sheng, deputy chief of the general staff for intelligence at Taiwan’s defense ministry, dismissed Beijing’s claims about having successfully imposed a blockade on Taiwan through the drills.

“The blockade, in reality, never actually took place,” Hsieh said in Mandarin, according to a translation. “The reason [Beijing] is saying this is to make people believe that [its military drills] have achieved their intended purpose.”

Monday and Tuesday’s drills marked the largest by area and the closest yet to Taiwan, according to Taiwanese media outlets.

Given the different zones marked by China’s military for the drills, Hsieh said Beijing wanted to “send the message that the Taiwan Strait is part of its territorial waters rather than being an international waterway.”

Canada, the United States, and the UK have sailed warships through the Taiwan Strait this year in an effort to ensure the narrow waterway remains free.

China

The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) Eastern Theater Command was in charge of military drills encircling Taiwan.

On Tuesday, the command said the live-fire drills in northern and southern Taiwan were conducted alongside simulated strikes, air-defense and anti-submarine operations, as well as attacks on maritime targets, with destroyers, frigates, fighters and bombers deployed in what it called an integrated rehearsal for a blockade of the island.

Off the coast of eastern Taiwan, China deployed amphibious assault ships, destroyers, frigates, and unmanned aerial vehicles for drills such as seizing key ports and precision strikes on key targets, according to the command.

The Eastern Theater Command released a series of propaganda posters, including one titled “Hammers of Justice” depicting a “separatist” being crushed by one hammer in the south and “separatist ideology” being crushed by another hammer in the north.

U.S. Rep. Pat Harrigan (R-N.C.) responded to the poster in an X post on Tuesday, saying, “Just to be clear, the CCP is not our friend.”

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, at a symposium in Beijing on Tuesday, criticized “‘Taiwan independence’ forces” and recent U.S. arms sales to the island, saying that the drills were a response to the “repeated provocations.”

The United States’ $11.1 billion arms sale to Taiwan, announced by the Pentagon’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency on Dec. 17, included defensive equipment such as High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, self-propelled howitzers, two different Altius loitering munition drones, Javelin anti-tank missiles, and anti-armor missiles.

Criticism

The CCP’s latest military exercises have drawn concerns and criticism from U.S. Congress.
“The PRC’s latest aggression against Taiwan is unacceptable,” U.S. Sen. Todd Young (R-Ind.), who serves on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, wrote in an X post on Monday, using the acronym of communist China’s official name, the People’s Republic of China.

“Beijing’s reckless activities in the region continue to undermine global security, and the U.S. is right to continue supporting our allies in the Indo-Pacific.”

U.S. Rep. Greg Stanton (D-Ariz.), co-chair of the Congressional Taiwan Caucus and a member of the House Select Committee on China, said it was “so concerning” that China’s military drills “look less like routine readiness and more like rehearsals,” according to his X post.

“If China believes escalating military exercises will deter U.S. support for Taiwan, it’s misreading both our resolve and the growing strength of the U.S.-Taiwan economic and security partnership,” Stanton said.

“The U.S. must continue to make clear that aggression against Taiwan will be met with a swift and serious response.”

In a Facebook post on Tuesday, Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te criticized the Chinese regime as not a “responsible world power” for its continued escalation of military tensions in the region.

“Maintaining peace across the Taiwan Strait and in the Indo-Pacific is a shared expectation of the international community, and a commitment Taiwan upholds as a responsible member of the region,” Lai wrote, according to a translation of the post.

Lai said that Taiwan will not “provoke a confrontation or seek conflict” with China.

Taiwan’s foreign ministry called on China to immediately stop its “groundless and provocative military activities” and “bullying,” saying its actions “challenge the rules-based international order,” according to a Monday statement.

“China’s continuing attempts to unilaterally undermine the status quo across the Taiwan Strait and the region will have a grave impact on global shipping and trade,” the ministry stated.

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