Trump ‘not worried’ even as China fires rockets towards Taiwan during war games

Chinese military deploys amphibious assault ships and bomber aircraft to encircle island on second day of war games

US president Donald Trump said he wasn’t worried about China's military drills around Taiwan even as Beijing carried out rocket-firing exercises.

China, on the second day of the "Justice Mission 2025" drills, fired rockets towards Taiwan and deployed new amphibious assault ships along with bomber aircraft and warships to rehearse a blockade of the island.

Mr Trump told reporters on Monday he wasn’t informed of the military exercises in advance, but he wasn’t worried because China routinely conducted naval exercises.

“I have a great relationship with President Xi and he hasn't told me anything about it. I certainly have seen it," the US president said.

"No, nothing worries me. They've been doing naval exercises for 20 years in that area.”

China’s largest military exercises to date began less than two weeks after Washington announced a $11.1bn arms package for Taiwan, its biggest arms sale ever to the island.

Announcing the exercises on Monday, Beijing said they were a “stern warning” against separatist and "external interference" forces.

A Taiwanese fighter jet prepares to land at the Hsinchu air base on 29 December 2025 (Ap)

China claims Taiwan as its territory and does not rule out the use of force to reunify it with the mainland. Analysts say Beijing's exercises increasingly blur the line between routine military training and stage-setting for an attack, a strategy intended to allow the US and its allies minimal warning of an assault.

The Chinese military’s Eastern Theatre Command said that naval and air force units drilled strikes on maritime and aerial targets as well as anti-submarine operations to Taiwan’s north and south and that live-firing would take place until 6pm local time at five locations around the island.

Taiwan's Civil Aviation Administration said Chinese authorities had issued a notice saying that seven temporary “dangerous zones” would be set up around the Taiwan Strait to conduct rocket-firing exercises from 8am to 6pm local time, barring aircraft from entering them.

Taipei said nearly 850 international flights were scheduled during that period and the drills would affect over 100,000 travellers. Over 80 domestic flights, involving around 6,000 passengers, were already cancelled.

The island’s defence ministry said debris from live-firing had entered its contiguous zone, defined as 24 nautical miles offshore. It said that 130 Chinese military aircraft and 22 navy and coastguard vessels had been operating around the island in the 24 hours up to 6am.

At least 14 Chinese coastguard vessels continued to sail around Taiwan's contiguous zone on Tuesday, some of which were engaged in standoffs with Taiwanese vessels, a Taiwan coast guard official told Reuters.

The Chinese army's "highly proactive and reckless actions severely undermine regional peace and stability", the Taiwanese defence ministry said.

Conducting live-fire exercises around the Taiwan Strait “does not only mean military pressure on us, it may bring more complex impact and challenges to the international community and neighbouring countries", Hsieh Jih-sheng, deputy chief of the general staff for intelligence of the Taiwanese defence ministry, said.

Karen Kuo, spokesperson for the president's office, said the drills were undermining stability and security in the Taiwan Strait and the Indo-Pacific and openly challenging international law and order.

“Our country strongly condemns the Chinese authorities for disregarding international norms and using military intimidation to threaten neighbouring countries," she said.

The defence ministry released a video featuring its forces and weapons systems in an apparent show of its power while multiple Mirage-2000 jets conducted landings at an air force base.

In October, Taipei had said that it would accelerate the building of a "Taiwan Shield" air defence system in the face of the military threat from China.