China on Saturday concluded large-scale military drills around Taiwan, after carrying out a record number of incursions into Taiwanese airspace.
The two-day exercise, which included a simulated blockade of the island, came in response to the inauguration of Taiwan's new president Lai Ching-te earlier this week.
Taiwan's Defence Ministry on Saturday said it registered 62 Chinese warplanes operating around the self-governing island within 24 hours, the highest number of Chinese daily sorties so far this year.
Among them, 47 Chinese military aircraft crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait, the ministry said, while 27 Chinese navy vessels were also detected on Friday.
Military expert Zhang Chi said on Chinese state television that China was simulating a blockade of Taiwan.
The army practiced stopping energy imports to Taiwan, cutting off escape routes for its politicians abroad and blocking support from its foreign allies such as the US, he said.
China's People's Liberation Army said it had also rehearsed its ability to take over Taiwan. Operations were carried out "to test the command's ability to jointly take control of the battlefield," Chinese state media quoted a military spokesperson as saying.
In Taipei, Defence Minister Wellington Koo said Taiwan’s military must continue to accumulate response experience and use innovative thinking to grow its combat capabilities, according to a statement issued by his ministry on Saturday.
Presidential spokeswoman Kuo Ya-hui said that "China's recent unilateral provocation not only undermines the status quo of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait but is also a blatant provocation to the international order."
A spokesperson for EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell said China's large-scale manoeuvres were "increasing tensions."
China regards Taiwan as part of the People's Republic. The island, with around 24 million inhabitants, has had an independent government since 1949.
Tensions across the Taiwan Strait have risen since Lai's Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) won presidential elections in January.
He was sworn in as president on Monday and used his inaugural address to urge Beijing to cease its political and military intimidation.
The Chinese government considers the DPP to be a separatist organization and has threatened to invade Taiwan if the party makes any formal moves towards independence.