Global & US Headlines
PLA 'Justice Mission 2025' Drills Encircle Taiwan After Record US$11.1 B Arms Deal
On 29 Dec 2025, China’s Eastern Theatre Command began multi-service exercises that ring Taiwan with five exclusion zones, explicitly rehearsing port blockades just days after Washington approved its largest-ever $11.1 billion weapons package for Taipei.
Focusing Facts
- Sea- and air-space were closed in five zones for 10 hours starting 08:00 local time 30 Dec 2025, with live-fire by Army, Navy, Air Force and Rocket Force units.
- The U.S. arms sale, cleared on 18 Dec 2025, is valued at $11.1 billion and includes anti-ship missiles and air-defence systems.
- Justice Mission 2025 is the sixth major PLA drill set around Taiwan since 2022, signalling an annualised tempo of large-scale encirclement exercises.
Context
Beijing’s encirclement rehearsal echoes the 1995-96 Taiwan Strait Crisis, when PLA missile tests bracketed the island after President Lee Teng-hui’s U.S. visit, yet the 2025 iteration adds joint-force blockade drills reminiscent of the U.S. Navy’s 1962 Cuban quarantine—suggesting China is now practicing its own version of coercive maritime cordon. Strategically, the event underscores a decade-long shift from symbolic missile shots to integrated area-denial and port-sealing capabilities, part of Xi Jinping’s broader 2035 military modernisation drive and the grey-zone pattern seen in the South China Sea since the 2010s. On a 100-year canvas, the drills mark another waypoint in the redistribution of power in the Western Pacific: just as Imperial Japan’s 1904 blockade of Port Arthur signalled its arrival, the PLA’s ability to choreograph multi-axis exclusion zones without immediate push-back tests both regional red-lines and the credibility of U.S. extended deterrence. Whether this moment becomes a footnote or a hinge will depend on if repeated “training” normalises a semi-permanent presence that erodes the post-1949 status quo without a single shot—proof that salami-slicing can sometimes achieve what outright war could not.
Perspectives
China-friendly or pro-Beijing media
e.g., India Today, Prensa Latina, National Herald — Portray the "Justice Mission 2025" drills as a rightful, routine PLA action and a stern warning needed to safeguard China’s sovereignty against separatists and foreign meddling. Echoes Chinese military talking points almost verbatim and gives minimal space to Taiwan’s position, signaling an incentive to maintain cooperative ties with Beijing and avoid criticism of China’s use of force.
International and regional outlets highlighting threats to Taiwan’s democracy
e.g., Hong Kong Free Press, Dawn, Times LIVE, WAtoday — Cast the exercises as provocative intimidation that endangers regional stability and underscores Taiwan’s vow to defend its democratic system. Foregrounds Taipei’s condemnations and the risk of escalation while giving scant coverage to Beijing’s stated grievances, reflecting a liberal-democratic alignment that may dramatise China’s actions and underplay U.S./ally provocations.