Map Shows Chinese Military Exercise Near Flashpoint

The Chinese military has designated seven zones along its eastern coast facing the self-ruled island of Taiwan for drills from Monday to Wednesday, Newsweek‘s map shows.

The Taiwanese Defense Ministry said on Monday that China, which views Taiwan as part of its territory despite never having governed it, has set up reserved airspace zones off the coasts of Shanghai City, as well as the provinces of Zhejiang, Fujian, and Guangdong.

As shown in Newsweek‘s map, two of the reserved airspace zones are located to the west of Taiwan, while the rest of them are northwest of Taiwan and southwest of Japan.

According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), reserved airspace is temporarily allocated during a determined period of time for the specific use of a particular user, though other flights may be allowed to transit under air traffic control clearance.

In response to the Chinese military activities, “ROC armed forces have initiated combat readiness exercises and will closely monitor the situation,” the Taiwanese military said, using the abbreviation of the democratic country’s official name, the Republic of China.

When asked about whether China was conducting military exercises around Taiwan, Mao Ning, the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson, answered on Monday that Taiwan is an inalienable part of China and Beijing will defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Newsweek has reached out to the Chinese Defense Ministry for comment by email.

The latest development across the 110-mile-wide Taiwan Strait came after Lai Ching-te, president of Taiwan, recently toured his country’s allies in the South Pacific Ocean, which included stopovers in Hawaii and Guam, the Pacific Ocean territority of the United States.

Regarding Lai’s stopovers in the U.S., the Chinese Defense Ministry has warned that it will “smash” any Taiwanese bid for formal independence. The U.S. State Department told Newsweek previously that Lai’s transits were consistent with its longstanding practice.

China has refused to renounce the use of force against Taiwan. The U.S. follows its one China policy that recognizes Beijing as the only government of China and acknowledges, without endorsing, its claim over Taiwan, a key U.S. partner in the Indo-Pacific region.

On Monday, a senior Taiwanese security official said China has sent about 90 naval and coast guard ships near Taiwan, Japan’s southern islands, as well as the East China Sea and the South China Sea, targeting the entire first island chain for the first time, Reuters reported.

The first island chain refers to a U.S. defense concept that extends from Japan southward to the Philippines via Taiwan, forming a north-south blockade against China. It seeks to leverage allied and friendly territories to contain the Chinese military in the Pacific Ocean.

In the 24 hours to 6 a.m. on Tuesday, China has deployed 47 military aircraft and 12 naval vessels, as well as nine government ships around Taiwan, the island military reported. The Chinese military has yet to officially announce the beginning of any drills near Taiwan.

Meanwhile, Reuters reported that, citing a senior security source in Taiwan, the Chinese military conducted a blockade exercise near the island that saw its aircraft simulate strikes on foreign warships and train “driving away” military and civilian aircraft.

China has held two large-scale military exercises around Taiwan so far this year. The first, Joint Sword-2024A, was conducted in May after Lai’s inauguration, and the second, Joint Sword-2024B, was organized in October following Lai’s address on Taiwan’s national day.

In August 2022, China launched a mock military blockade of Taiwan after Nancy Pelosi became the first serving U.S. House speaker to visit the island in 25 years. Beijing also announced that its military forces would begin regularizing patrols in the Taiwan Strait.

Prior to the Chinese military exercise, Japan detected the presence of six Chinese naval ships in the country’s southwestern waters near Taiwan. On December 4, two destroyers and one frigate of the Chinese navy were spotted transiting the Miyako Strait southward.

The strait, which lies between Miyako Island and Okinawa Island of Japan, is a major waterway in the first island chain, connecting the East China Sea and the Philippine Sea.

A second Chinese naval group, including one destroyer and one frigate, passed through the same waterway southeastward on December 7, and a Chinese spy ship was on the same voyage the following day, according to reports prepared by the Japanese Defense Ministry.

On Monday, a Chinese military Y-9 maritime patrol aircraft transited between the East China Sea and the Philippine Sea via the Miyako Strait. It was not clear whether the deployments of the Chinese naval ships and the patrol aircraft were part of the drill.