PLA Conducts Two-Day Live-Fire Drills Near Fujian/Taiwan Strait After Beijing Calls Lai Speech 'Reckless'

China's PLA conducted live-fire drills on July 23-24, 2026 (6 a.m. to 6 p.m. each day) in waters east and south of Dongshan Island, Fujian province, extending into the Taiwan Strait — the first day in a broader zone, the second in a smaller rectangular area closer to shore, all within 12 km of the mainland coast. Beijing's maritime safety administration issued the navigation warnings. The drills followed China's Taiwan Affairs Office branding President Lai Ching-te's July 19 DPP convention speech — in which he said Taiwan was 'not subordinate to the People's Republic of China' — as a 'reckless' challenge to the one-China principle. TAO spokeswoman Zhang Han said Lai's remarks 'exposed his unchanging Taiwan independence stance.' The exercise also coincided with the completion of a Chinese fisheries resources survey conducted in waters east of Taiwan. Analysts characterized the drill as limited in scale but part of the continuing normalization of Chinese military coercion around Taiwan.