Beijing 8 August : China’s People’s Liberation Army on Monday continued its massive air and sea drills in Taiwan despite its initial announcement that the exercise, that started this week in reaction to US House Nancy Pelosi’s trip to Taipei and would conclude on Sunday.China’s state-run television said that the exercises were focused on “anti-submarine and sea assault operations” DPA news agency.
In announcing the maneuvers to the north east, south-west and north of the self-ruled island on August 2nd, China had originally promised end on the Sunday.
A new official date for the end of the year has been declared.
Actually, certain of the commentators on Chinese media suggested that military exercises could be the new norm.
Defence Ministry spokesman Wu Qian on Monday said that the drills are an “necessary warning” to the US and Taiwan and Taiwan, describing them as an “entirely sensible and pertinent” reaction to recent “provocations”.
He said that the tensions had been “deliberately” inflamed by Washington, with Pelosi travelling to Taipei last week in the in the face of the fierce protests from Beijing.
The Chinese leadership is against official talks between other nations with Taipei due to its view of Taipei as a part of the mainland.
Taiwan however has always regarded itself as an independent country.
In the last few days, the Chinese military practiced not just the air and naval blockade but also amphibious landing capability to launch beach attacks on Taiwan according to Chinese media.
Taiwan’s military reported that Chinese aircraft flew 66 sorties in the last 24 hours all by themselves.In the course of the flight, 22 jets traversed the Taiwan Strait median line, which was a line that had generally been observed in the past.
Fourteen Chinese warships are believed to have been involved, in addition.
A Chinese drone was also observed again on Sunday evening , this time over Kinmen, an outlying Taiwanese island of Kinmen that is just few kilometers away from the Chinese coast The Defence Ministry in Taipei reported.
Up until recently there was any Chinese flights of the island from the 1950s onwards.
Other Chinese maneuvers are planned for this week in various other areas, such as in the north in the Bohai Gulf and the Yellow Sea, and in the south in the South China Sea off the coast of Guangdong province.
