China kicked off the second day of large-scale military exercises — code-named “Strait Thunder-2025A” — in the middle and southern areas of the Taiwan Strait on Wednesday, a day after the U.S. and Japan voiced concern over the move.
“The exercises focus on subjects of identification and verification, warning and expulsion, and interception and detention so as to test the troops’ capabilities of area regulation and control, joint blockade and control, and precision strikes on key targets,” Senior Col. Shi Yi, spokesperson of the Eastern Theater Command, said in a statement.
The second day of the exercises came after the Chinese military trained a day earlier in “integrated operations,” as Beijing criticized Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te and warned that efforts toward independence meant “war.”