China’s People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) has reportedly carried out another series of live-fire drills across three of its theatre commands. This is said to be the second round of drills in just over a month for forces attached to the Northern, Eastern, and Southern Theatre Commands after a similar exercise in mid-April, and a similar three-command exercise held last July. Though touted as a “a comprehensive test of the overall operational capability of a naval formation in the context of actual combat,” reports suggested that only a handful of vessels were involved in each given command but the height of activity occurred in the Eastern Command – which is responsible for the East China Sea and Taiwan – where two Type 052D destroyer were joined by a Type 054A frigate. Chinese domestic commentators suggest that the pace of such exercises will increase in response to the United States’ apparent hardening stance towards China, though such drills also serve to signal Japan and Southeast Asia of the power that the PLAN can bring to bear in enforcing China’s regional claims.