China launches live-fire exercise in Taiwan Strait

BEIJING: China´s military began a live-fire exercise near Taiwan on Tuesday, maintaining pressure on the self-ruled island after staging large-scale drills and President Xi Jinping called for troops to prepare for war.

This month it sent planes and warships around the island in what Beijing said was a “stern warning to the separatist acts of ´Taiwan Independence´ forces”.

On Monday, the Maritime Safety Administration (MSA) in the eastern island of Pingtan announced that “gun firing” would take place in a limited area close to the Chinese mainland, about 105-kms from Taiwan.

The MSA said they would start at 9:00 am local time (0100 GMT) and take place for four hours in an area encompassing about 150 square kilometres.Pingtan is the closest point in mainland China to Taiwan´s main island.

Maritime authorities did not say which Chinese force would carry out the live firing, or its objective.

In response to the drills, Taiwan´s defence ministry said it was closely monitoring China´s “military activities and intentions”.

Taipei said the exercises could be part of Beijing´s “tactics to bolster its intimidation in conjunction with the dynamics in the Taiwan Strait”.

Premier Cho Jung-tai described them as a “threat that undermines regional peace and stability”.