{"id":80272,"date":"2022-08-04T13:34:05","date_gmt":"2022-08-04T13:34:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.bornomalanews.com\/?p=80272"},"modified":"2022-08-04T13:34:05","modified_gmt":"2022-08-04T13:34:05","slug":"china-fires-missiles-in-unprecedented-drills-around-taiwan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/en.bornomalanews.com\/?p=80272","title":{"rendered":"China fires missiles in \u2018unprecedented\u2019 drills around Taiwan"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"News Desk:<\/strong> China has fired several ballistic missiles into the waters around Taiwan as it launched large-scale military exercises in response to US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi\u2019s visit to the self-ruled island.<\/p>\n

Chinese state media said the live-fire drills in six areas around Taiwan got under way at noon local time (04:00 GMT) on Thursday and will continue until the same time on Sunday.<\/p>\n

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Senior Colonel Shi Yi, spokesman for China\u2019s Eastern Theater Command, said in a statement carried by state media that rocket forces in multiple locations on the mainland launched several types of missiles into designated waters off the eastern coast of Taiwan.<\/p>\n

The missiles carried conventional warheads and all of them hit their targets accurately, he said, adding that the aim of the drills was to test the precision of the weapons and ability to deny an enemy access to or control of an area.<\/p>\n

The Taiwanese Ministry of Defense confirmed the launches, identifying them as Dongfeng-class ballistic missiles. It said the weapons were fired into waters to the northeast and southwest of Taiwan at about 1:56pm local time (05:56 GMT), and condemned the exercises as \u201cirrational actions that undermine regional peace\u201d.<\/p>\n

The last time China fired missiles into waters around Taiwan was in 1996, in the run-up to the re-election of President Lee Teng-hui, who had visited the United States the previous year. Beijing, which had threatened \u201cserious consequences\u201d over Pelosi\u2019s visit, claims Taiwan as its own and has not ruled out the use of force to take control of the island.<\/p>\n

Pelosi\u2019s visit to Taiwan on Wednesday was the first by a sitting speaker of the House, the third most senior politician in the US, in 25 years.<\/p>\n

The US, while having formal diplomatic relations with China, follows a policy of \u201cstrategic ambiguity\u201d on Taiwan and is bound by law to provide the island of 23 million people with the means to defend itself.<\/p>\n

Taiwan on alert<\/strong>
\nThe Global Times, a Chinese state-run tabloid, framed Thursday\u2019s drills as a rehearsal for \u201creunification operation(s)\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the event of a future military conflict, it is likely that the operational plans currently being rehearsed will be directly translated into combat operations,\u201d it quoted Chinese mainland military expert Song Zhongping as saying.<\/p>\n

Another expert, Zhang Xuefeng, told the paper that \u201cif the conventional missiles of the PLA were to be launched from the mainland toward the west of Taiwan and hit targets to its east, this means that the missiles would fly over the island\u201d. This would be \u201cunprecedented\u201d, he was quoted as saying.<\/p>\n

Some of the six areas where Beijing has indicated the exercises are being held fall within Taiwan\u2019s territorial waters.<\/p>\n

The island has already warned shipping firms and airlines to avoid the locations.<\/p>\n

The defence ministry said the island\u2019s armed forces remained in a state of alert and were closely monitoring the PLA\u2019s activities.<\/p>\n

Taiwan will \u201cuphold the principle of preparing for war without seeking war, and with an attitude of \u2018not escalating conflict and not causing disputes'\u201d, the ministry said in its statement.<\/p>\n

Earlier, it revealed suspected Chinese drones had flown above the Kinmen Islands, Taiwanese territory off China\u2019s southeastern coast, and it had fired flares to drive them away.<\/p>\n

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Source: Aljazeera<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

News Desk: China has fired several ballistic missiles into the waters around Taiwan as it launched large-scale military exercises in response to US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi\u2019s visit to the self-ruled island. Chinese state media said the live-fire drills in six areas around Taiwan got under way at noon local time (04:00 GMT) on Thursday […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":80273,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2,14],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\t\n