At the “68” tourist park on Pingtan Island (China), the point closest between China and Taiwan’s main island, April 2, 2025. HECTOR RETAMAL / AFP
Toward the end of December 2025, residents of the fishing village of Dafu, on China’s Pingtan Island in Fujian province – just across from Taiwan – started seeing familiar red and yellow “public notices.” In them, local fishers were advised not to go out to sea, windows were to be left open to avoid shattering, and elderly people, those with heart conditions, and pregnant women were asked to keep their distance from the coast. On December 29 and 30, rockets were fired from a rocky outcrop near the village.
These launches were part of “Justice Mission 2025,” a military operation conducted in the areas around Taiwan and presented by Beijing as a warning to Taiwanese independence supporters and the “external forces” backing the island, namely Japan and the United States. On December 18, Washington approved the sale of $11.5 billion worth of military equipment to Taiwan’s armed forces.
In Dafu, live-fire training drills are becoming increasingly frequent, putting residents on edge. The passage of warships, each one seemingly larger than the last, has also made locals nervous. For one fisherman, busy greasing his winch bearings, every military exercise and destroyer transit only deepens mutual distrust and hardened attitudes on both sides of the Taiwan Strait. “In the past, there were times when Taiwanese fishers came to take shelter with us during storms. We used to be friends. Now, when we cross paths at sea, we don’t even greet each other anymore,” said the man, who preferred to remain anonymous.
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