Mainland China stepping up preparations for Taiwan blockade, report says

Taiwan’s defence ministry has warned that the People’s Liberation Army is stepping up its preparations for a blockade of the island, adding that it is sharpening its plans to break such a cordon in response.

The assessment was made in the ministry’s “2026 China Military Power Report”, which was submitted to the legislature this week along with its five-year force development plan and next year’s proposed defence budget.

The report said recent PLA exercises were increasingly focused on the “joint blockade and control” of the island’s external air and sea routes.

“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,” it said.

The aim was to strengthen the PLA’s ability to target Taiwan, as well as carry out anti-access and area-denial operations to counter potential foreign intervention, the report continued.

Beijing sees Taiwan as part of China and has never ruled out the use of force to reunite it with the mainland.