Mainland China steps up preparations for a Taiwan blockade, report says

China’s military exercises are increasingly rehearsing how to cut Taiwan off from the outside world, according to Taiwan’s defence ministry. The ministry says the People’s Liberation Army is stepping up preparations for a blockade while Taiwan sharpens its own plans to break one.

The assessment appears in the ministry’s 2026 China Military Power Report, submitted to Taiwan’s legislature this week alongside a five-year force development plan and a proposed defence budget for next year.

The report says the PLA’s recent drills have concentrated more heavily on what it calls “joint blockade and control” of Taiwan’s external air and sea routes. It describes training that combines maritime and air blockades or quarantines with joint firepower strikes, efforts to seize comprehensive battlefield superiority and amphibious landing operations.

“Combined with annual PLA training, the exercises have increasingly focused on maritime and air blockades or quarantines, joint firepower strikes, seizure of comprehensive battlefield superiority and joint amphibious landing operations,” the report said.

Taiwan’s ministry says the exercises aim to improve the PLA’s ability to strike the island and conduct anti-access and area-denial operations against potential foreign intervention. Beijing regards Taiwan as part of China and has never renounced the use of force to bring it under mainland control.

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Combined with annual PLA training, the exercises have increasingly focused on maritime and air blockades or quarantines, joint firepower strikes, seizure of comprehensive battlefield superiority and joint amphibious landing operations.