China Shows Ambitions, Intentions, and Power Before Trump Takes Office

• China has been busy lately showcasing its military might and hybrid warfare tactics.
• The moves come ahead of Trump’s return to the White House this month.
• Its activities highlight China’s ambitions and intentions and the challenge it poses.

Since the 2024 US presidential election, China has been surprisingly busy with overt and covert displays of might that represent a challenge for the US, both the current and incoming administrations.

China, long identified as the Pentagon’s “pacing challenge,” has flexed new military capabilities, increased pressure on US allies and partners, and engaged in hybrid warfare in cyberspace.

Over the past couple of months, suspected next-generation Chinese combat aircraft have appeared, China’s navy has launched new warships, the Chinese military simulated a naval blockade of Japan for the first time and carried out massive drills near Taiwan, the US has blamed Chinese hackers for major hacks of the Treasury Department and telecommunications firms, and concerns have been raised about China’s involvement in damage to critical undersea infrastructure.

Some of Beijing’s recent actions might be “part of a long-term strategy to shape a new (or returning) administration’s approach to China and deter external support for Taiwan,” Matthew Funaiole, a senior fellow with the China Power Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told Business Insider.

China has been flexing its military muscles in a big way

China deployed around 90 of its navy and coast guard vessels around Taiwan, as well as southern Japanese islands, for a large-scale exercise, Taiwan said in December. Beijing didn’t announce anything ahead of time and hasn’t acknowledged it as a military drill.

Taiwan recorded over 60 incursions into its air defense identification zone and said Chinese forces were simulating attacks on foreign ships and disrupting the navigation of others.

The exercise was China’s largest since the 1996 Taiwan Strait Crisis. It followed Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te’s visit to several Pacific partners, which Beijing condemned, and came ahead of Trump’s return to the White House. China routinely ramps up demonstrations of military power at symbolically important times for both international and domestic audiences.

Giselle Donnelly, a senior fellow in defense and national security policy at the American Enterprise Institute, said that the timing of these exercises “is more than coincidence,” not unlike Russian President Vladimir Putin’s efforts over the last few months to put pressure on Ukraine before Trump takes office and US aid to Kyiv faces an uncertain future.

Chinese leadership may see exercises like this as a way to “get an early read” on the incoming Trump administration’s approach to US-Chinese politics, she added.

In December, China also held military exercises resembling a naval blockade in the Miyako Strait between Japan’s main island and Miyako Island, Japanese officials told The Yomiuri Shimbun, which reported the news earlier this month.

And just before ringing in 2025, China announced its air and naval forces were conducting combat readiness patrols around the Scarborough Shoal, a disputed area in the South China Sea near the Philippines that was the site of heightened and repeated confrontations between Beijing and Manila last year. Chinese vessels were accused of harassing Philippine ships, in some cases ramming them and blasting crews with water.

China has unveiled new capabilities

In November, China unveiled advanced aircraft at its Zhuhai Airshow, including the J-35A land-based stealth fighter. The Chinese developer hailed the fifth-gen jet’s stealth, informationization, and networking capabilities, calling it a “point guard” for Chinese airpower — similar to how the F-35 stealth fighter has been referred to as a “quarterback” by Lockheed Martin and the US military.

The next month, however, China surprised Chinese aviation watchers with what observers suspect are prototypes of next-generation aircraft. The Pentagon said in its latest Chinese military power report that Beijing is developing new medium- and long-range stealth bombers to strike regional and global targets.” It’s unclear if the aircraft, which were flown in broad daylight, are part of those efforts.

China also launched the warship CNS Sichuan, China’s first Type 076, and the world’s largest amphibious assault vessel — an upgrade from China’s Type 075 warship. The large ship features an electromagnetic catapult system for launching and retrieving fixed-wing and unmanned aircraft.

For several years now, the US Department of Defense has noted China’s growing navy, already the world’s largest, and shipbuilding prowess, as the industrial juggernaut churns out new vessels.

China has been called out for dangerous cyber activity

Washington has accused Chinese actors of engaging in major hacks lately.

Just before the new year, the Treasury revealed that suspected Chinese state-sponsored hackers had breached its systems and were able to “access certain unclassified documents” from department workstations. The department said it was working “fully characterize the incident and determine its overall impact.”

The hack followed the discovery of a yearslong breach by China of US telecommunications companies. Top targets of the hack included Trump, his pick for vice president, J.D. Vance, and current VP Kamala Harris. Washington linked this hack to an incident involving Microsoft last summer. Lawmakers have expressed concern that encrypted calls and texts may no longer be secure.

White House Deputy national security advisor Anne Neuberger said that data belonging to millions of Americans was likely compromised by the hack and noted the US doesn’t believe these hackers have been “fully removed” from targeted systems. 

Chinese actors are also believed to have accessed the Justice Department’s list of wiretapped phone numbers related to potential espionage crimes. There have long been concerns about China’s hybrid warfare and its potential for systems destruction warfare in a crisis situation.

China has also been accused of sabotaging undersea cables near Taiwan and been linked to an incident in the Baltic Sea. Experts and officials have assessed the efforts are in line with the larger hybrid warfare tactics employed by Beijing.

Over the past two months, China has showcased capabilities and engaged in actions that represent potential challenges for the US and its allies and partners. These are issues the incoming Trump administration will continue to face.

And it isn’t China alone. US and other Western officials have increasingly expressed alarm at cooperation between China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea, all of which have been stepping up their efforts to confront the US-led world order.