The Chinese military on Tuesday said it had begun conducting exercises that would approach the island of Taiwan “from multiple directions,” according to a statement posted on the Eastern Theater Command’s official social media account.

China has wrapped up a round of live-fire exercises that simulates a blockade of Taiwan following fresh tensions with its president and a new report about Washington’s desire to stop Beijing from taking the island.

A military aircraft is seen on a giant screen showing news footage about joint army, navy, air and rocket forces drills around Taiwan by the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA), outside a shopping mall in Beijing,

Ms Zhao, who calls herself “Xiaowei” online, often posts videos featuring a large Chinese flag, saying things such as: “Come on, my fellow Taiwanese, let’s unite and go home together!!!” She is one of three social-media influencers—all of them women from the Chinese mainland who had married Taiwanese men—who were told in March they were no longer welcome to live on the island.

One analyst called China’s large-scale drills a “pre-invasion operation” as it ramps up attacks on Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te, calling him a “parasite.”

China, which views democratically-governed Taiwan as its own territory, regularly holds exercises around the island, including one begun on Tuesday it said was to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence".

The barges, which link up to form a bridge, could give China a way to land large numbers of vehicles and troops on Taiwan, solving a major logistical problem.