MKsports Chinese People's Liberation Army Eastern Theater Command conduct military exercises code-named Strait Thunder-2025A in the middle and southern areas of the Taiwan Straits on April 2, 2025. Photo: VCG" src="https://www.globaltimes.cn/Portals/0/attachment/2025/2025-04-02/f16756ab-a550-4945-8632-a534c8b850af.jpeg" />

The Chinese People's Liberation Army Eastern Theater Command conduct military exercises code-named "Strait Thunder-2025A" in the middle and southern areas of the Taiwan Straits on April 2, 2025. Photo: VCG

The Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Eastern Theater Command announced on Wednesday that it completed all designated tasks of the joint exercises carried out from Tuesday to Wednesday, with the exercises testing the troops' integrated joint operations capabilities. 

Troops of the theater command remain on high alert at all times, and will continue to strengthen combat readiness with intensive training, resolutely thwarting any separatist activities seeking "Taiwan independence," Senior Colonel Shi Yi, spokesperson of the PLA Eastern Theater Command, said in a statement on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, Shi announced the PLA Eastern Theater Command started to conduct joint exercises, organizing its army, navy, air and rocket forces to close in on the Taiwan island from multiple directions. 

Joint exercises continued on Wednesday, as the theater command announced the "Strait Thunder-2025A" drills in the Taiwan Straits, a live-fire rocket shooting in the East China Sea and the participation of an aircraft carrier task group.

Experts said drills in the two consecutive days demonstrate the PLA's tighter siege on "Taiwan independence" secessionist forces. The sustained exercises by the PLA not only impose military pressure on "Taiwan independence" forces but, more importantly, expose and weaken the political tactics of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) authorities, who seek to manipulate cross-Straits confrontation and hold the interests of the Taiwan people hostage.

The Wednesday exercises focus on subjects of identification and verification, warning and expulsion, and interception and detention to test the troops' capabilities in area regulation and control, joint blockade and control, and precision strikes on key targets, Shi said.

Fu Zhengnan, an expert at the PLA's Academy of Military Science, told the Global Times on Wednesday that the "Strait Thunder-2025A" exercises formed a situation in which the island of Taiwan is surrounded on two sides, as "independence" forces are pinned down and deterred. 

From the "Joint Sword" series drills in 2024 to the latest "Strait Thunder" operation, the change in code name means the PLA's military measures to deter "independence" are becoming more and more comprehensive, according to Fu.

Fu said that during the exercises, the PLA Eastern Theater Command had warships and warplane formations advancing simultaneously, locking down the island from two directions, and conducted simulated strikes on key "Taiwan independence" targets. Under the support of a strong reconnaissance and early warning system, the PLA quickly seized comprehensive control over the battlefield through aerial interception, sea assault and land strikes, forming a psychological deterrence on the "Taiwan independence" forces.

Zhang Chi, a professor at the National Defense University, told the Global Times that Wednesday's PLA exercises in the Taiwan Straits are codenamed "Strait Thunder-2025A," which shows that the PLA has rich options and various measures in deterring "Taiwan independence" secessionist forces.

"We are tightening the siege and chains on the 'Taiwan independence' secessionist forces through stricter measures with thunderous actions. It means that the more 'Taiwan independence' secessionist forces provoke, the stronger the punishment will be against them," Zhang said.

Rockets and carrier in action

Shortly after the announcement of the "Strait Thunder-2025A," Shi, the PLA Eastern Theater Command spokesperson, announced that ground force of the theater command conducted long-range live-fire drills in waters of the East China Sea according to the training plans of the "Strait Thunder-2025A" exercise on Wednesday.

The drills involve precision strikes on simulated targets such as key ports and energy facilities and have achieved the desired effects, Shi said.

A video released by the PLA Eastern Theater Command shows a brigade affiliated with the army of the theater command receiving orders to advance, as multiple modular rocket launcher systems rapidly mobilize to preset positions.

"The biggest highlight of today's drills is the long-range live-fire drills, which serve as a powerful deterrence against 'Taiwan independence' forces. After years of development, the PLA's comprehensive capabilities have kept rising, as its ability to fight and win continues to increase, sufficient enough to smash 'Taiwan independence' forces into pieces," Fu from the Academy of Military Science said.

In the afternoon, Shi issued another statement, announcing that the Eastern Theater Command on Wednesday employed the Shandong aircraft carrier task group, in coordination with naval and air units, in conducting military drills in areas to the east of Taiwan island. 

The exercises included subjects of vessel-aircraft coordination, seizure of area air superiority and strikes on ground and maritime targets to evaluate the troops' capabilities of integrated operations inside and outside the island chain, multi-dimensional blockade and control, and joint operations of multiple services, Shi said.

The presence of the Shandong aircraft carrier task group to the east of Taiwan island helps play the role of cutting off "three lines" of "Taiwan independence" forces, namely their energy import life line, their external aid support line and their own escape line, according to Zhang from the National Defense University.

Necessary move to safeguard sovereignty

It's reported that the US, EU, Japan and some others made remarks on the joint exercises around Taiwan island conducted by the PLA. They oppose "unilateral changes to the status quo," including through force or coercion, and said that there is "no justification" for China's irresponsible threats and military pressure operations near Taiwan island. 

In response, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said on Wednesday that the accusation of a handful of countries and organizations against China is a mischaracterization of the facts and truth and an interference in China's internal affairs. China deplores and opposes this. The Taiwan question is purely China's internal affairs that brook no external interference. 

Zhang Xiaogang, a spokesperson for the Ministry of National Defense, said on Wednesday that certain countries - if they genuinely wish to see peace and stability in the Taiwan Straits - must strictly adhere to the one-China principle and stop sending the wrong signals to "Taiwan independence" separatist forces.

Zhu Fenglian, spokesperson for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, said on Wednesday that the joint exercises are necessary actions to safeguard national sovereignty, security, and interests of development, righteous moves to punish separatist attempts to divide the country and firm safeguard of peace and stability in the Taiwan Straits, as well as the safety and well-being of our compatriots in Taiwan island.

There is only one China in the world, and Taiwan is an inalienable part of China. This is the true status quo in the Taiwan Straits. The DPP authorities have been aggressively promoting the fallacy of "Taiwan independence," continuously engaging in separatist provocations in an attempt to alter the fact that both sides of the Straits belong to one China. Such actions seriously undermine peace and stability in the Straits and severely harm the interests and well-being of the people in Taiwan. If allowed to continue, they will only push the people of Taiwan into a dangerous situation of conflict and turmoil. This must be firmly curbed and resolutely punished, Zhu stressed.

Growing pressure on separatists 

Compared with earlier speculations from Taiwan commentators, this round of exercises was more powerful in deterrence, Zheng Jian, a professor at the Taiwan Research Institute of Xiamen University, told the Global Times on Wednesday. 

"The PLA's evolving drill patterns - marked by increased unpredictability - have left the 'Taiwan independence' forces unable to anticipate its actions, subjecting them to growing psychological pressure," Zheng said.

According to Taiwan media reports, the exercises had an immediate effect in imposing a de facto blockade around Taiwan island. Taiwan's CTI News reported that a liquefied natural gas carrier was unable to leave port after the drills began, blocked by the exercise area. 

"The current drill has already placed Taiwan island in a quasi-blockade situation," Zheng said. "While Taiwan's so-called 'defense authority' downplays the exercise, local media reports and public comments reflect genuine anxiety and unease."

The sustained PLA exercises strike at the core of the DPP authorities' governance model, Zheng said, noting that Lai has been promoting "green dictatorship" on the island, suppressing opponents and fueling social division, while deliberately provoking cross-Straits tensions and creating an atmosphere of anti-mainland hostility to cover up his own governance failures. 

"Such political manipulation only forces the people of Taiwan to bear greater risks and costs," Zheng said. "Although the current drills are military in nature, they also serve as a real warning. They tell the people of Taiwan that the DPP authorities, for their own political interests, are willing to put the entire island in danger," Zheng said.