Beijing has begun conducting military drills off Taiwan after promising to launch a series of “targeted military operations” in response to US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to the self-governing island, Chinese media reported.
“The Eastern Zone of the PLA Combat Command is consistently conducting a series of joint military operations around the island of Taiwan,” CCTV reported hours after Pelosi arrived on the island.
Pelosi touched down in Taipei late on Tuesday despite repeated warnings from Beijing against attempting to visit territory that it regards as an integral part of China.
“The Chinese People’s Liberation Army is on high alert and will launch a series of targeted military operations to counter this, resolutely defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity, and resolutely thwart external interference and ‘Taiwan independence’ separatist attempts,” defense ministry spokesman Wu Qian said, without providing any further detail.
In a separate statement, China’s Eastern Theater Command announced joint military drills off Taiwan, live-firing in the Taiwan Strait and missile test-launches in the sea east of Taiwan. The exercises kicked off early on Wednesday, footage circulated by Chinese CCTV shows.
It was not immediately clear what exactly the “targeted military operations” would include and whether they were separate from the series of drills announced by the Eastern Theater Command.
NATO soldiers are already in Ukraine helping Kiev but the US-led bloc does not want…
Russia has celebrated the 79th anniversary of victory over Nazi Germany in World War II…
The Russian military has seized two settlements in Kharkov Region and Donbass from Ukrainian forces,…
AstraZeneca pharmaceutical company has announced the withdrawal of its Covid-19 vaccine from global markets, claiming…
A video documenting the destruction of a NATO-supplied tank in Ukrainian service appeared on Russian…
Russian President Vladimir Putin has officially been sworn into office for a fifth term. In…