A missile of the PLA Rocket Force is seen erected during the “Justice Mission 2025” joint military drills organized by the PLA Eastern Theater Command around Taiwan island starting December 29, 2025. Photo: VCG

"Fire! Fire! All rounds hit target!" On Tuesday, the PLA Eastern Theater Command released footage of the live-fire drills conducted in the afternoon. The live-fire drill was the highlight of the "Justice Mission-2025" military exercises. In accordance with the plan, the Eastern Theater Command carried out important military exercises and organized live-fire drills in the designated maritime and aerial areas from 8:00 am to 6:00 pm on Tuesday. Zhang Chi, a professor at the National Defense University, said that wherever the “Taiwan independence” separatists are, the PLA’s firepower package will be delivered there.

A clear thread can be seen from the intensive information released by the Eastern Theater Command: this is yet another highly coordinated, target-specific combat-oriented drill. On Tuesday, the first announcement issued by the Eastern Theater Command read: the PLA Eastern Theater Command employed destroyers, frigates, fighters and bombers to conduct drills on subjects of identification and verification, warning and expulsion, simulated strikes, assault on maritime targets, as well as anti-air and anti-submarine operations in the waters to the north and south of the Taiwan Island. The drills tested capabilities of sea-air coordination and integrated blockade and control.

On Tuesday morning, the ground forces of the PLA Eastern Theater Command conducted long-range live fire drills in the waters to the north of the Taiwan island, with all rounds hitting target. On Tuesday afternoon, the ground forces of the PLA Eastern Theater Command organized live fire training, while conducting simulated long-range joint strike with units of the Navy, Air Force and Rocket Force in the waters to the south of the Taiwan island. The PLA Eastern Theater Command also dispatched task forces of amphibious assault ships, destroyers, frigates, and unmanned aerial vehicles to conduct drills in the waters to the east of the Taiwan island, focusing on subjects of all-dimensional force projection, breaching and raid by elite forces, as well as seizure of key ports. The drills tested capabilities of task force coordination, systemic operations, and precision strikes on key targets.

These four updates may seem casual, but they are in fact highly combat-oriented. Generally, they unfold a sequence of striking while blockading, blockading after striking, striking again after blockading, and ultimately conducting amphibious and aerial landing operations through multiple modalities to seize and secure the island.

For instance, maritime and aerial multi-service forces conducted identification and verification, warning and expulsion missions in the relevant waters to the north and south of Taiwan island. This constituted a calibrated blockade and control operation, which aimed to intercept and seize aircraft and vessels attempting to deliver weapons, equipment and other military supplies to the Taiwan authorities through identity verification and identification, thereby cutting off external military aid to Taiwan island.

In addition, during the drills on Monday, the participating forces conducted exercises to impose blockade and control over key ports and shipping lanes of Taiwan island, and carried out multi-wave fire strikes to achieve fire coverage against Taiwan's naval and air targets, missile positions, major military ports, ammunition depots, logistics facilities and other vital military sites.

In the footage released by the Eastern Theater Command on Tuesday, marines stood combat-ready on the flight deck of a Type 075 amphibious assault ship. At the order, they boarded helicopters that lifted off in formation to launch an airborne multi-dimensional landing operation.

Fire strikes constitute an indispensable part of a successful landing. Professor Zhang told the Global Times on Tuesday that the exercise featured naval gun live-fire drills, long-range rocket artillery live-fire drills, as well as multiple waves of simulated joint strikes against key targets. In terms of firepower employment, the exercise demonstrated a systematic, multi-element approach that achieved integrated short-to-long-range coverage and coordinated high-to-low altitude strikes, showcasing the PLA’s formidable firepower deterrence and joint strike capability against Taiwan island and its surrounding areas.

Zhang said that the fire strikes in the exercise featured three key characteristics. First, shore-based fire guidance with powerful assault: leveraging a suite of equipment including the long-range modularized rocket systems, the PLA launched fire strikes against critical targets and lifelines of the "Taiwan independence" separatist forces, exerting advantages of controlling the sea from the land and conducting fire guidance from the shore.

Second, concentrated firepower with superior force concentration: joint strikes were launched against Taiwan island from multiple directions, with combat power deployed across land, sea, air and electromagnetic domains. The PLA conducted joint deterrence and fire strikes against key positions and vital areas of the "Taiwan independence" separatist forces from various directions, Zhang said.

Third, wide-area deployment with mobile blitz strikes: the PLA troops were deployed in an integrated manner from far to near and in in-depth positions from the coastal areas to the inland, forming a formidable firepower network. "Wherever the 'Taiwan independence' separatists are, our firepower package will be delivered there," he said.

From the “Joint Sword” exercises in 2024, to the “Strait Thunder” drill in April 2025, and now the “Justice Mission” in December 2025, the PLA's military exercises around the Taiwan Straits have demonstrated three key trends: steadily advancing pressure, flexible deployment and retraction, and diverse operational modalities.

Since 2022 to date, for all services and arms of the Eastern Theater Command, every round of the encirclement exercises around Taiwan island has served to test the forces’ actual combat capability for joint operations under real combat conditions.

"These critical capabilities demonstrate the hard-core strength of the PLA, and prove that the PLA can be called into action at critical moments, fight on arrival, and win every battle it fights." Zhang noted.