US Says China’s Taiwan Drills ‘Unnecessarily’ Raised Tensions

The U.S. State Department said China’s military drills around Taiwan had “unnecessarily” raised tensions and urged Beijing to cease military pressure against the self-ruled island, after President Donald Trump initially shrugged off concerns.

“China’s military activities and rhetoric toward Taiwan and others in the region increase tensions unnecessarily,” State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott said in a statement on New Year’s Day, some 48 hours after the People’s Liberation Army wrapped exercises covering the largest combined area in decades.

The PLA simulated a blockade of the global chip hub for two days this week with live-fire exercises encircling the island. It launched long-range projectiles into the Taiwan Strait — one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes — for the first time since 2022, although the drills didn’t rise to the same intensity as those three years ago when China fired missiles over Taiwan.

Trump initially dismissed the drills as a continuation of longstanding Chinese activity. “They’ve been doing naval exercises for 20 years in that area,” he said after live-fire drills on Monday, touting his “great relationship” with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

The U.S. leader’s comments contrasted to statements from other major democracies criticizing Beijing’s show of force. The European Union, U.K., France, Germany, Australia and New Zealand and Japan all voiced concerns days before the U.S. State Department. China blasted that criticism, calling Taiwan — which Beijing considers its own territory — an “internal affair.”

Taiwan’s Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung welcomed the support, saying in a statement that Taipei would “work with the U.S. and all like-minded countries to jointly uphold the rules-based international order.”

China’s Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the latest U.S. statement.

The State Department’s response to the drills arrived later than its condemnation of some previous Chinese drills.

When Chinese forces launched exercises around Taiwan in October last year and in April, the State Department issued statements on the same day, slamming the actions as “unwarranted” provocations and destabilizing “intimidation tactics.”

In another round of exercises in May last year, held shortly after Taiwan President Lai Ching-te took office, the State Department released a statement the day after the drills ended, blasting Beijing for “using a normal, routine, and democratic transition as an excuse for military provocations.”

Beijing framed its latest maneuvers as a warning to “separatist forces” and “external interference,” after the U.S. this month unveiled an $11 billion weapons package for Taiwan.

“We urge Beijing to exercise restraint, cease its military pressure against Taiwan and instead engage in meaningful dialogue,” the State Department said in its statement, adding that it opposes changes to the status quo “by force or coercion.”

Beijing has ramped up diplomatic pressure and military aggression against Taiwan in recent years. Large-scale PLA drills around the democracy of 23 million people have become a regular occurrence since then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s trip to the island in 2022.

Ties between the world’s largest economies have stabilized in recent months after a turbulent year that saw tariffs soar and both sides weaponize supply chains. A one-year truce has paused that volatility, with Trump preparing to visit the world’s No. 2 economy in April. His comments about the exercises indicate the U.S. is keen to keep that deal in place.

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(With assistance from Colum Murphy and Cindy Wang.)

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