China’s military commenced extensive exercises around Taiwan on Tuesday as a “stern warning” and to deliver a message of “strong opposition to Taiwan’s independence,” according to Chinese officials.

The Ministry of National Defense in Taiwan reported tracking 19 Chinese naval vessels in the waters encircling the island over a span from 6 a.m. Monday to 6 a.m. Tuesday. These exercises, which included operations by Chinese naval, air, ground, and rocket forces, were conducted without prior announcement.

“The aggressive military actions by China pose a threat not only to the peace in the Taiwan Strait but also to regional security, as shown by the drills near Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Korea, the Philippines, and the South China Sea,” the Presidential Office of Taiwan stated on X. “We firmly decry China’s rising provocations.”

Taiwan defense officials added that they had been tracking the movement of China’s Shandong aircraft carrier since Saturday and that its carrier group had entered into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone on Monday. In response, Taiwan dispatched military aircraft and ships and activated land-based missile systems, according to Reuters. 

A military jet lands at Hsinchu Air Base in Hsinchu, Taiwan, on April 1. (Reuters/Annabelle Chih)

The exercises were “aimed at testing the troops’ capabilities of carrying out integrated operations, seizure of operational control and multi-directional precision strikes, the command said. 

China’s Taiwan Affairs Office also said the exercises were directed at Lai Ching-te, Taiwan’s strongly pro-independence president. 

This image released by the Taiwan Ministry of National Defense shows China’s Shandong aircraft carrier sailing near Taiwan on Monday, March 31.  (Taiwan Ministry of National Defense via AP)

“Lai Ching-te stubbornly insists on a ‘Taiwan independence’ stance, brazenly labeling the mainland as a ‘foreign hostile force,’ and has put forward a so-called “17-point strategy … stirring up anti-China sentiments,” China’s Taiwan Affairs Office said in a statement. “We will not tolerate or condone this in any way and must resolutely counter and severely punish these actions.” 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.