Taiwan warns of air traffic disruption due to China’s military drills
Tuesday, 30 Dec, 2025
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China launched its most extensive war games around Taiwan on Monday to showcase Beijing’s ability to cut off the island from outside support in a conflict, reported Reuters on Monday and Tuesday.
China’s Eastern Theatre Command said it had deployed troops, warships, fighter jets and artillery for its “Justice Mission 2025” exercises to encircle the democratically governed island, conduct live fire and simulated strikes on land and sea targets, and drills to blockade Taiwan’s main ports.
Reuters reported further drills on Tuesday as China launched 10 hours of live-firing exercises around Taiwan, deploying new amphibious assault ships alongside bomber aircraft and warships on the second day of its largest-ever war games aimed at rehearsing a blockade of the island.
Drills force flight cancellations
Taiwan’s Defence Ministry said there was also an extra zone for a two-hour drill on Monday morning, which took place without a Chinese announcement in the eastern waters of the island.
On Tuesday, China’s drills affect 11 of Taipei’s 14 flight routes, Taiwan’s Civil Aviation Authority said. It is due to impact more than 100,000 passengers and leaving only a northeast corridor to Japan open for commercial flights. Routes to the offshore islands of Kinmen and Matsu near China’s coast are blocked. Some 80 domestic flights are set to be cancelled.
“China military exercises to pose more complex challenges and impacts for the neighboring countries”
“China is trying to make progress in asserting dominance over the entire island chain through extreme pressure tactics in various ways,” a Taiwan security official said. “As one of the world’s most critical shipping lanes, they seek to reshape the international order according to their own agenda.“
Taiwan’s Defense ministry said 130 Chinese military aircraft and 22 navy and coast guard vessels had been operating around the island in the 24 hours up to 6 a.m. on Tuesday, with 90 planes crossing the Median Line that divides the Taiwan Strait.
China’s sixth major round of war games since 2022, after then-U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited the democratically governed island, follows stronger rhetoric promoting Beijing’s territorial claims in response to Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi. She suggested that a hypothetical Chinese attack on Taiwan could trigger a military response from Tokyo.
Taiwan rejects China’s claimed sovereignty, maintaining that only its people can decide the island’s future.
“Our armed forces operate on the principle of preparing for the worst and must take every possible scenario into account,” Hsieh Jih-sheng, deputy chief of the general staff for intelligence at Taiwan’s defence ministry, told reporters, when asked about Tuesday’s drills.
“Conducting live-fire exercises around the Taiwan Strait … would not only constitute military pressure on us, but could also pose more complex challenges and impacts for the international community and neighboring countries.“
Meanwhile, the military exercises did not seem to worry U.S. President Donald Trump. Talking to to reporters in Florida, Trump declared to “have a great relationship with President Xi, and he hasn’t told me anything about it. I don’t believe he’s going to be doing it,” Trump added of Xi, apparently referring to military action toward Taiwan.
Washington has formal diplomatic ties with Beijing, but maintains unofficial ties with Taiwan and is the island’s most important arms supplier. The U.S. is bound by law to provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself, though such arms sales are a persistent source of friction with China.
(Source: news compiled from various Reuters reports)
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