China's military sets live-fire drills in five sea areas this week as Beijing attacks Lai's speech

Chinese maritime safety authorities have issued navigation warnings for military live-fire drills, live equipment operations and military training in at least five sea areas off China's coast, starting on Monday, 12 October 2026, and running until 17 October, according to reports on Sunday by Taiwan's United Daily News, Singapore's Lianhe Zaobao and Taiwan's EBC. Ships are barred from entering the marked zones while the activity takes place.

The warnings cover the Bohai Sea, the northern and southern Yellow Sea, the East China Sea and the South China Sea, in waters off the provinces of Hebei, Liaoning, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Guangdong. Zaobao reported that the regional maritime offices posted the notices over several days, with the earliest issued on Thursday, 8 October.

In the Bohai Sea off Qinhuangdao in Hebei, the activity runs from 6am on 12 October until midnight at the end of 16 October. United Daily News described it as live firing, while Zaobao said the Qinhuangdao office announced live equipment operations in the area on Saturday.

Off Dalian in Liaoning, in the northern Yellow Sea, a short live-fire window is set for 11am to 2pm on 12 October. Further south in the Yellow Sea, off northern Yancheng in Jiangsu, live firing is scheduled from 7am on 16 October to 6pm on 17 October, a notice that Zaobao said was issued on Friday.

In the East China Sea, east of the Oufei shoal off Wenzhou in Zhejiang, the notice covers military training rather than live fire, in three short sessions: 1:30pm to 3:30pm on 13 October, 2:30pm to 4:30pm on 14 October and 3:30pm to 4:30pm on 15 October. In the South China Sea, southeast of Zhanjiang in Guangdong, live firing is set for 8am to 6pm every day from 12 to 16 October. All times are local, which is the same as Taiwan time.

The notices were reported as Beijing stepped up its criticism of President Lai Ching-te's National Day speech on 10 October. In that speech, EBC reported, Lai said that increasing defence investment is meant to deter war and that strengthening self-defence does not mean giving up dialogue.

China's Taiwan Affairs Office spokesperson Zhang Han attacked the speech in a statement issued the same night, and defence ministry spokesperson Chen Xi said on Sunday that Lai had played up what he called a mainland military threat. Chen also said the People's Liberation Army's regular drills around Taiwan are meant to deter Taiwan independence and foreign interference, according to United Daily News and EBC. These are Beijing's own descriptions.

United Daily News noted that all five zones lie some distance from Taiwan, that the PLA has held drills in several areas at once within a single week before, and that there is so far no evidence that the coming activity is unusual or aimed at a particular target. None of the five areas listed in the reports is in the Taiwan Strait.

EBC said the schedule was also relayed by the Chinese state broadcaster's military channel on its Weibo account. The longest windows are in the Bohai Sea and the South China Sea, at about five days each, while the Dalian live-fire slot lasts only three hours.