China has made no bones about its ambition to seize Taiwan, possibly by blockading the self-governing island and cutting off supplies. Recently, the Chinese military conducted drills to thwart the US military from helping Taiwan.

According to an analysis by the Japan Institute for National Fundamentals, the Chinese drill in December 2024 was intended to practice how to stop the US forces from approaching the sea around the island.

In the war games, China deployed 18 destroyers and frigates to the east of the “first island chain,” stretching from Japan’s Nansei Islands to the Philippines, to deny access to American warships.

The drill was conducted between December 6-12. In order to prevent US forces from moving past the first island chain, which is located to the west of the second chain, and to the west of the “second island chain,” which extends from Guam to Japan’s Izu Islands, China employed anti-access/area denial (A2AD) strategy.