PLA Eastern Theater Command successfully completes "Justice Mission 2025" drills

NANJING, Dec. 31 (Xinhua) -- The Eastern Theater Command of Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) announced on Wednesday that it has successfully completed "Justice Mission 2025" drills.

Through the drills, the theater command fully tested the integrated joint operations capabilities of its troops, said Li Xi, spokesperson for the theater command.

The troops of the theater command will keep strengthening combat readiness with arduous training, resolutely thwart the attempts of secessionists in Taiwan and external intervention, and firmly safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity, he said.

The exercises, which started on Monday, involved Army, Navy, Air Force, and Rocket Force units operating in the Taiwan Strait and waters to the north, southwest, southeast, and east of Taiwan Island.

The latest military drills conducted by the PLA around the island were a stern warning to "Taiwan independence" separatist forces and external interference, said Zhang Han, a spokesperson for the State Council's Taiwan Affairs Office, at a press conference on Wednesday.

They were a necessary and just move to defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity, she added.