China urges PH: Don’t play with fire on Taiwan issue

Boats sail next to Pingtan island, the closest point between China and Taiwan’s main island, in Fujian province on April 2, 2025. —Photo by Hector Retamal/Agence France-Presse

BEIJING, China — The Chinese foreign ministry on Wednesday urged certain people in the Philippines not to make “unfounded comments” regarding Taiwan, warning, “those who play with fire will burn themselves.”

Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun’s remarks at a regular press conference came in response to Armed Forces of the Philippines chief Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. telling soldiers to “start planning for actions in case there is an invasion of Taiwan.”

“If something happens to Taiwan, inevitably we will be involved,” Brawner said in a speech on Tuesday, addressing troops under the Northern Luzon Command, which covers the region closest to the self-ruled island.

In Manila, the Malacañang press officer on Wednesday said, “It was only right for Brawner’’ to give such reminders to the AFP.

READ: Just a ‘prudent measure’: AFP clarifies chief’s Taiwan remark

“We are always ready should those contingencies happen. Like what the AFP chief said, we are always prepared for any contingency. If that happens, we won’t be sleeping on the job, and we will be prepared,” Undersecretary Claire Castro said.

She said government agencies were ready and capable of evacuating more than 250,000 overseas Filipino workers from Taiwan if it is invaded by China.

“Our assessment is that our countrymen should not be worried about this. But it is only right for Brawner to remind the troops and our people. We should always be prepared [for] all contingencies,” Castro added.

Escalation exercise

Also on Wednesday, a day after Brawner’s speech, China’s military held long-range, live-fire drills in the East China Sea in an escalation of exercises around Taiwan, saying it was practicing precision strikes on port and energy facilities, but Taiwan said none took place nearby.

The exercises follow a rise in Chinese rhetoric against Taiwan President Lai Ching-te, whom China called a “parasite” on Tuesday, and come on the heels of US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s Asia visit, during which he repeatedly criticized Beijing.

China, which views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory, has repeatedly denounced Lai as a “separatist.”

Lai, who won the election and took office last year, rejects Beijing’s sovereignty claims and says only Taiwan’s people can decide their future.

China’s Eastern Theatre Command said that on Wednesday, as part of the Strait Thunder-2025A exercise, its ground forces had conducted long-range, live-fire drills into the waters of the East China Sea, though it did not give an exact location.

“The drills involve precision strikes on simulated targets of key ports and energy facilities and have achieved desired effects,” it said, without elaborating.

China’s Maritime Safety Administration announced late Tuesday a closed zone for shipping due to military drills until Thursday night in an area off the northern part of the eastern province of Zhejiang, more than 500 kilometers from Taiwan.

China’s military published a video it said was of the live-fire drills that showed rockets, rather than ballistic missiles, being launched and hitting targets on land and an animation of explosions over Taiwanese cities, including Tainan, Hualien, and Taichung, all home to military bases and ports.

The words “Control energy corridors, disrupt supply routes, block clandestine routes to docks” then appear on the screen.

The aircraft carrier Shandong also took part in drills, to the east of Taiwan, focused on integrated operations between naval and air forces and “multidimensional blockade and control,” China’s military said.

Taiwan has denounced China for holding the drills.

Taiwan’s defense ministry said it had detected so far on Wednesday 36 Chinese military aircraft, against 76 for the previous day, adding Taiwan had activated its own “rapid response exercise” for a second day saying it was needed to boost the alert level in case of a sudden Chinese move. —Julie Aurelio