China’s People’s Liberation Army has concluded its unprecedented four-day military drill around Taiwan following a controversial visit by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to the island nation last week .
On Sunday, the Chinese military deployed fighter jets, warships and ballistic missiles around Taiwan as it carried out “island saturation attack drills” and “bomber deterrence flights”. Experts have described it as a mock blockade and ultimate invasion of the island.
“After completing the simulated strike mission, several bomber formations crossed the Taiwan Strait from north to south and south to north simultaneously, carrying out a deterrence mission around the island in conjunction with other services and branches of the PLA,” state-run tabloid Global Times said in a late-night online report.
According to the report, the purpose of Sunday’s drill was to conduct an “island attack” drill as well as a “lockdown” drill.
Even as the four-day exercise came to a halt in the Taiwan Strait, China announced it was carrying out new military drills in the Yellow Sea – located between China and the Korean Peninsula – and the Bohai Sea. – off the east coast of China.
“The exercise in the Bohai Sea will be held from August 8 to September 8, while another in the Yellow Sea will be held from August 7 to 15,” the China Maritime Security Administration (MSA) said in a statement. .
The new announcements come as China announced that it will now conduct “regular” military exercises on the east side of the median line in the Taiwan Strait. The middle line is an unofficial buffer separating the two sides, according to a senior military analyst quoted in Chinese state media.
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The military exercises, which took place in six areas around the island, began on Thursday. It deployed more than 100 fighter jets, fired ballistic missiles and sent dozens of warships for the exercise, the largest such exercise to be held around Taiwan.
Read also | Amid drills in Taiwan, China to conduct live-fire exercise near Korean Peninsula
Beijing sees Taiwan as a breakaway province that will eventually be reunited with mainland China. But Taiwan, home to around 23 million people, is a self-governing island that considers itself separate from the mainland.
(With agency contributions)
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