PLA launches "Strait Thunder-2025A" exercises in middle, southern areas of Taiwan Strait
"There are no fixed tactics in war, just as water has no constant form."
The Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Eastern Theater Command on Wednesday conducted military exercises code-named “海峡雷霆-2025A” (Strait Thunder-2025A) in the middle and southern areas of the Taiwan Strait.
The exercises focus on subjects of identification and verification, warning and expulsion, and interception and detention to test the troops' capabilities of area regulation and control, joint blockade and control, and precision strikes on key targets, according to Senior Colonel Shi Yi, spokesperson for the theater command.
The Shandong aircraft carrier task group was deployed to simulate strikes on ground and maritime targets in areas to the east of Taiwan Island, said Shi.
The picture shows aircraft carrier Shandong berths at a naval port in Sanya. China's first domestically-made aircraft carrier Shandong (Hull 17) was officially commissioned to the PLA Navy at a military port in Sanya, South China's Hainan Province, on the afternoon of December 17, 2019, making China one of the few countries in the world that have multiple carriers. Photo: China Military
The PLA Eastern Theater Command started to conduct joint exercises around Taiwan Island on Tuesday. Many people have been wondering: Why did the PLA’s exercises begin on Tuesday, but the codename wasn’t announced until Wednesday? According to Yuyuan Tantian, a social media account affiliated with China Media Group, the "Strait Thunder-2025A" drill actually refers only to Wednesday’s exercise -- Tuesday’s one was not part of it.
Fu Zhengnan, an expert at the PLA’s Academy of Military Science, explained to Yuyuna Tantian that the fact that Tuesday's drills had no codename, while Wednesday’s were given one, reveals a key message behind the PLA’s operations -- adaptability. This demonstrates that the PLA can flexibly adjust, dynamically update, and precisely control its combat plans at any time based on battlefield needs.
“兵无常势、水无常形。”
"There are no fixed tactics in war, just as water has no constant form."
"Some claim the PLA is playing its cards "face-up," but when the time comes to act, the other side won’t know which card we’ll play -- or when, or whether it might change mid-course. A move could come at midnight, in broad daylight, or even involve a hidden card. At any moment, we can launch a decisive strike against 'Taiwan independence' separatists in ways, at times, and in places they least expect, " said Fu.
Fu Zhengnan
"The PLA is increasingly becoming an unpredictable 'magician,'" Fu said. "This reflects years of rigorous drills by theater command forces, honing their mastery of tactics to deter 'Taiwan independence' and their intimate familiarity with the fatal weaknesses of the island’s defense systems."
According to Zhu Fenglian, a spokesperson for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, PLA's joint exercises around the Taiwan Island serve as a resolute punishment against the reckless provocations of the Lai Ching-te authorities in seeking "Taiwan independence."
Zhu Fenglian, a spokesperson for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council Photo: the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council
Lai recently announced "17 major strategies" including policies to investigate into Taiwan residents who hold mainland identity documents, expand the scope of scrutiny over Taiwan artists' remarks and behaviors, and establish a review system targeting cross-Strait exchanges in religion, culture and education.
Zhu said that those policies aimed at provoking confrontation, inciting anti-China sentiment, obstructing cross-Straits exchanges and cooperation, and escalating tensions in the Taiwan Straits, which have fully exposed Lai as a destroyer of cross-Straits peace and a creator of crisis in the region, revealing his true anti-peace, anti-exchange, anti-democracy, and anti-humanitarian nature.
"Such behavior is intolerable and unacceptable," Zhu said, noting that "it must be resolutely countered and severely punished."
It should be noted that the exercise this time and previous ones, such as Joint Sword-2024A and Joint Sword-2024B in 2024, were all responses to provocative statements made by Taiwan leader Lai Ching-te.
Yingtai Lung, a former cultural official in Taiwan, authored an opinion piece entitled "The Clock Is Ticking for Taiwan," which was published in The New York Times on Tuesday.
Lung said that "Rather than reaching out to all sides in Taiwan to initiate an urgent national discussion on the direction we should take, Lai Ching-te is instead going for fear, confrontation and a revival of dark Cold War rhetoric."
The problem with Mr. Lai’s approach is that Taiwan can no longer bank on U.S. support. This isn’t something that we are just now realizing because of Mr. Trump, who, besides betraying Ukraine, has already sown doubt about his commitment to defending Taiwan, even accusing us of stealing the semiconductor business from America. -- Yingtai Lung
Since Tuesday, the WeChat blog of the PLA Eastern Theater Command has been continuously releasing updates and images related to the military exercises. It’s evident that the Chinese military has become highly adept at posting updates through social media platforms.
Theme Poster “Overwhelming Grip” Released by PLA Eastern Theater Command: 围锁瞰制 Comprehensive superiority at display 尽在掌握 Securing control all the way
I recommend that all China watchers, if possible, include WeChat blogs as part of your information channels. Alternatively, you could also subscribe to Beijing Scroll -- I'll do my best to share good stuff here.