China has conducted military drills around Taiwan for a second day focusing on the Taiwan Strait separating the self-governing island democracy from China that is a crucial conduit for international trade.

The drills came after Taiwan’s president, Lai Ching-te, announced measures to counter China’s influence and espionage. Beijing also wants to send a message to Washington, analysts said.

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.

Taiwan's defence ministry on Thursday detailed a surge in Chinese military activity as Beijing wrapped up a second day of war games overnight Wednesday, saying it had detected 59 warplanes and 23 navy ships operating around the island.

China's military concluded two-day war games around Taiwan in which it held long-range, live-fire drills in the East China Sea, marking an escalation of exercises around the island.

The People's Liberation Army said Wednesday it had carried out live-fire strikes on targets simulating Taiwanese infrastructure.

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,

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".