Donald Trump has said he is not worried by China’s live-fire military drills surrounding Taiwan and that he has a great relationship with the Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, who “hasn’t told me anything about it”.
The US president’s comments came amid a large two-day surprise attack simulation launched by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) on Monday and Tuesday, which China has called “Justice Mission 2025”.
The PLA, which is the armed wing of China’s ruling Communist party, fired 27 missiles from the Chinese coastline into the waters near Taiwan on Tuesday morning, according to Taiwan’s defence ministry. At least 70 Chinese war planes, 11 navy ships and 14 from China’s militarised coast guard were also detected since 6am.
The defence ministry said the missiles came closer to Taiwan’s main island than in previous live-fire drills. Some landed in Taiwan’s 24-nautical mile contiguous zone, and at least 13 ships were also detected within those restricted waters, the ministry said.
It followed the detection of 130 war planes, 28 ships, amphibious assault ships, and one surveillance balloon detected in the 24 hours to 6am on Tuesday.
Asked about the drills on Monday, Trump said he had a “great relationship with President Xi, and he hasn’t told me anything about it”.
“I certainly have seen it … I don’t believe he is going to be doing it,” Trump said, appearing to refer to an actual invasion. “Nothing worries me.”
Beijing claims Taiwan is a Chinese province and is preparing to annex it militarily, with the aim of being capable of invasion by 2027, according to US intelligence from several years ago. In the meantime, it deploys an array of military and non-military forms of harassment and intimidation to convince or coerce Taiwan to accept “peaceful reunification”.
The US is Taiwan’s most significant backer in its resistance to Beijing’s annexation plans, but Trump’s stance – especially during his second term – has been inconsistent. Trump met Xi in October but said Taiwan “didn’t come up”. He is expected to visit Beijing for a more formal meeting next year.
The PLA and Chinese state media said these exercises focused on simulating a blockade of major ports in Taiwan, repelling “external foreign interference”, and testing “sea-air coordination and precise target hunting and neutralisation”, including attacks on submarines and other maritime targets.
Taiwan’s president, Lai Ching-te, said on Tuesday that China was not acting as a responsible world power, and expressed his “strongest condemnation”. Taiwan would defend its sovereignty, he said.
“We will act responsibly and not escalate conflict or stir up disputes.”
The defence minister, Wellington Koo, said the drills disregarded international norms and “clearly aim to achieve cognitive warfare and deplete Taiwan’s combat capabilities … and to create division and conflict within Taiwanese society”.
This week’s drills are the sixth and largest to target Taiwan since 2022, when major exercises surrounded Taiwan in retaliation for a visit by the then speaker of the US House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi.
Such exercises take extensive planning and are usually part of general training, but the PLA often links them to perceived acts of provocation. This week, Chinese officials and state media specifically cited a recent approval by the US government for a record $11bn weapons sales to Taiwan.
An attack on Taiwan by Beijing is largely expected to draw in the US and potentially Japan, according to recent statements by the country’s prime minister. Sanae Takaichi said Japan’s military would be likely to get involved if China attacked Taiwan, which infuriated Beijing.
In a speech on Tuesday, China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, said: “In response to the continuous provocations by pro-independence forces in Taiwan and the large-scale US arms sales to Taiwan, we must of course resolutely oppose and forcefully counter them.”
Wang indicated that the drills were also a message to Japan, whose leaders he said “openly challenge China’s territorial sovereignty”.
An editorial in the official state outlet, Xinhua, said the drills were “a clear reminder for the DPP that the trend of national reunification is unstoppable, and that the will of the people cannot be defied”.
“The DPP’s fanciful attempts to pursue ‘Taiwan independence’ by relying on US support will only heighten tensions in the Taiwan strait and push the island’s residents toward the brink of conflicts,” it said.
China-based analysts noted that the drills came almost immediately after Taiwanese officials, including Taipei’s mayor, Chiang Wan-an, had attended a “twin cities” forum in Shanghai.
The dean of the international studies institute at Fudan University, Xinbo Wu, said it demonstrated “the mainland’s two-pronged approach” towards Taiwan, offering inducements and threats.
Additional research by Lillian Yang and Jason Tzu Kuan Lu
