China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) announced the manoeuvres through a notice published by the Zhejiang Maritime Safety Administration to warn vessels to avoid a stretch of sea spanning from Zhoushan to Wenzhou – off the coast of Taiwan.
The exercises reportedly comprise an area the size of Taiwan and are scheduled to last from Wednesday through Monday.
Chinese military commentator Song Zhongping told Chinese Communist Party newspaper The Global Times: “The drill’s main objective is to send a serious warning to Taiwan separatists.
“The PLA Air Force and Navy have been frequently conducting island encirclement exercises.
“The drill this time will add up and form a military deterrence of high pressure against the Taiwan separatists.”
Taiwan was established in 1949 after loyalist forces retreated when they lost a civil war to communist forces.
China considers Taiwan to be a wayward province and has never ruled out using military force to retake it.
The US sells weapons to Taiwan and Donald Trump has expanded diplomatic relations between the two countries.
China has been angered by the moves, and Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said: “We firmly oppose official interactions between the US and Taiwan in any form.”
She told reporters at a press conference the US should respect previous diplomatic agreements and “uphold the larger picture of the China-US relations with concrete actions”.
President Xi Jinping has set out to modernise China’s armed forces and expand its naval power.
China has ramped up military exercises around Taiwan in the past year, including flying bombers around the island.
The communist state’s hostility towards Taiwan has grown since Tsai Ing-wen from the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party won a presidential election on the island in 2016.
China fears the island wants to push for formal independence.
Tsai says it is committed to peace and maintaining the status quo across the Taiwan Strait, but will defend Taiwan’s security.
Taiwan is well equipped with mostly US weapons and is pressing for more advanced equipment to deal with what it sees as rising threat from China.