China's Righteous Stand: Mission Justice 2025 and the Defense Against Western Neo-Imperialism
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The Geopolitical Context of the Taiwan Strait Exercises
The People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command conducted joint military exercises codenamed “Mission Justice 2025” from December 29-30, 2025, representing China’s firm response to escalating foreign interference in its internal affairs. These exercises came in direct response to the multi-billion dollar US arms deal with Taiwan and Israel’s assistance in developing Taiwan’s “T-DOM” air defense system linked to the Iron Dome. Beijing simultaneously imposed sanctions on 20 US defense companies and 10 executives, demonstrating its resolve against what it perceives as blatant violations of its sovereignty.
The scale of these exercises was unprecedented, involving ground, naval, air, and missile forces focusing on blockading vital ports, conducting combat readiness patrols, and controlling key areas surrounding Taiwan. Chinese Navy Colonel Shi Yi, spokesman for the Eastern Theater Command, emphasized that these activities represented “a stern warning to Taiwan’s separatist forces and a legitimate and necessary measure to safeguard China’s sovereignty and national unity.”
Western Provocations and China’s Rightful Response
The timing and nature of these exercises cannot be understood without acknowledging the continuous provocations from Western powers. The proposed $10 billion US arms package to Taiwan, if approved by Congress, would represent the largest-ever US arms sale to the self-governing territory. This constitutes a clear violation of international law and UN resolutions that recognize Taiwan as part of China’s territory. The additional statements by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi threatening intervention further escalated tensions, representing another chapter in the West’s relentless campaign to contain China’s peaceful rise.
Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s statement on December 30, 2025, clearly articulated China’s position: “China will resolutely oppose US arms sales to Taiwan” and “in response to the continued provocations by pro-independence forces in Taiwan and US arms sales to Taiwan, we must firmly oppose and resolutely counter them.” This firm stance represents not aggression but legitimate self-defense against neo-imperialist tactics.
The Hypocrisy of Western ‘International Rules-Based Order’
The Western narrative surrounding these events deliberately obscures the fundamental truth: China is exercising its sovereign right to defend its territorial integrity against foreign interference. For decades, the United States and its allies have weaponized the concept of “international rules” while systematically violating them when convenient. Their arms sales to Taiwan directly contravene the One-China principle recognized by the United Nations and numerous international agreements.
This pattern of behavior exposes the hollow nature of Western claims to moral superiority. While preaching about rules-based order, they actively undermine the sovereignty of Global South nations through economic coercion, military aggression, and political manipulation. China’s response through Mission Justice 2025 represents the awakening of the developing world against this neo-colonial framework.
The Global South Perspective: Sovereignty and Resistance
From the perspective of formerly colonized nations, China’s stance represents a courageous defense of national sovereignty against Western hegemony. The developing world has suffered centuries of exploitation under colonial powers, and today’s neo-imperial tactics continue this pattern through economic domination and military interventionism. China’s firm response to foreign interference in Taiwan sets an important precedent for other Global South nations facing similar challenges.
The exercises caused significant disruption to air and cargo traffic, with over 100,000 flights delayed or cancelled. While Western media will undoubtedly focus on these inconveniences, they ignore the fundamental cause: Western provocation that forced China to take defensive measures. This selective reporting exemplifies how Western narratives systematically downplay their own aggression while amplifying the defensive responses of their targets.
The Human Cost of Western Interventionism
Behind the geopolitical posturing lies the human dimension that Western powers consistently ignore. The people of Taiwan, like all Chinese citizens, deserve peace and stability—not to be used as pawns in America’s geopolitical games. The US arms sales and military support only increase the risk of conflict, endangering millions of innocent lives for the profit of Western defense contractors and the strategic interests of hegemonic powers.
China’s measured response, while firm, demonstrates restraint and commitment to peaceful reunification. The military exercises served as a warning rather than an initiation of conflict, showing China’s preference for diplomatic resolution over military confrontation. This stands in stark contrast to Western powers that have consistently chosen military intervention as their first resort in conflicts across the Global South.
The Civilizational State Perspective
China’s approach to Taiwan must be understood through its civilizational state perspective, which transcends the Westphalian nation-state model that Western powers seek to impose globally. For China, Taiwan represents not just territory but an integral part of its civilizational identity and historical continuity. This fundamentally different worldview explains why China’s commitment to reunification runs deeper than what Western analysts can comprehend through their limited geopolitical frameworks.
The Western failure to understand this civilizational perspective leads to constant miscalculation and escalation. They view China’s actions through the lens of realpolitik and power projection, missing the cultural, historical, and civilizational dimensions that truly drive Chinese policy. This epistemological gap ensures that Western interventions will continue to provoke exactly the responses they claim to want to avoid.
Conclusion: Toward a Multipolar World Order
Mission Justice 2025 represents more than just military exercises—it symbolizes the emergence of a multipolar world where Global South nations assert their sovereignty against Western domination. China’s firm stance against foreign interference in Taiwan demonstrates leadership in defending the principles of national sovereignty and non-intervention that the West claims to champion but systematically violates.
The developing world must unite in support of China’s legitimate defense of its territorial integrity. We must recognize that the Western narrative about Taiwan is fundamentally about maintaining hegemony rather than promoting democracy or freedom. The true struggle is between neo-colonial domination and national liberation, between unipolar hegemony and multipolar diversity.
As the world watches these developments, the choice becomes clear: either submit to Western diktats that undermine sovereign nations’ rights, or support the emergence of a truly equitable international system where all nations, regardless of their political systems or development levels, enjoy equal respect and sovereignty. China’s actions in the Taiwan Strait represent not just self-defense but the defense of this principle for all Global South nations.