China's Eastern Theater Command marks Taiwan Retrocession Day as state TV airs satellite views of Taipei

China's military command responsible for the Taiwan area marked the island's Retrocession Day on Sunday 25 October with a poster calling for the unity of the nation's territory to be defended, while Chinese state television aired satellite footage of Taipei landmarks and the Port of Taipei, Hong Kong and Taiwanese media reported. On the same morning, Taiwan's defence ministry said it had tracked five Chinese navy ships and eight Chinese official vessels around the island.

The poster was published on the WeChat account of the People's Liberation Army Eastern Theater Command, according to HK01 and the China Times. HK01 said it was dominated by two large Chinese characters meaning return, with a slogan in the upper right urging people to remember the history of retrocession and to defend the unity of the country's land.

In the text that accompanied the poster, the command claimed that Taiwan's return on 25 October 1945 was an important result of China's victory in the war against Japan, strong proof that the Chinese government had resumed sovereignty over Taiwan, and a key link in what it called a legal chain showing that Taiwan is part of China. These are the Chinese military's own political claims, published through its official social media channel, and they are reported here as claims.

China Central Television separately released a 42-second video that it said was filmed by the Jilin-1 satellite constellation, Taiwan's SETN reported. The footage showed the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and the National Palace Museum in Taipei, Zhuangwei township in Yilan county, Sun Moon Lake and the Port of Taipei. HK01 said the clip also included the Taipei Dome. CCTV claimed that every street in Taiwan could be seen clearly from the satellite's view.

The official Xinhua news agency used the date to republish remarks that Chinese leader Xi Jinping made in January 2019, when he said that China must be and will be unified, SETN reported. A Xinhua commentary published on 24 October described the anniversary as a way to strengthen determination to achieve what Beijing calls complete reunification. Both items restate Beijing's position and are not independent findings.

Beijing used the same date for a similar display last year. In October 2025, after China's national legislature set 25 October as a day to commemorate Taiwan's retrocession, Chang Guang Satellite Technology, the company that operates Jilin-1, released eight high-resolution images of Taiwan, Taiwanese broadcaster EBC reported at the time. The pictures covered central Taipei, the Port of Taipei, the Hsinchu Science Park, Sun Moon Lake and the Hengchun Peninsula.

EBC reported then that the company said the timing was chosen to show off its satellite technology and to signal its belief in unification. The report described the constellation as capable of sub-metre imaging and of revisiting any point on Earth more than 30 times a day, and noted that it is mainly used for civilian mapping, weather and environmental monitoring.

Military activity around Taiwan was comparatively light. Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense said that in the 24 hours to 6 a.m. local time on 25 October it detected five PLA Navy ships and eight official ships operating around Taiwan, and no Chinese military aircraft, according to Rti. The ministry said Taiwanese forces used patrol aircraft, ships and shore-based missile systems to monitor the activity and respond.

The pairing of a theatre command poster with detailed satellite footage of a Taiwanese port and the capital came on a politically symbolic day rather than during a drill. Taiwan's own daily figures show that Chinese warships and other government vessels remained around the island while the messaging campaign ran, even with no aircraft reported in the period.