A map showing the locations where China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) will conduct military exercises and training activities, including live-fire drills, is seen in newspaper reports of US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan, at a booth for newspapers in Beijing, China, August 3, 2022. REUTERS/Tingshu Wang
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BEIJING, Aug 4 (Reuters) – China’s People’s Liberation Army has begun military exercises involving live fire in the waters and airspace around the island of Taiwan, Chinese state television said on Thursday.
The exercise, spread across six locations, is due to end at 12:00 (04:00 GMT) on Sunday. The exercises followed a visit by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan, a trip condemned by Beijing, which claims the self-ruled island as its own.
Significantly, to the north, east and south, the exercise zones cut Taiwan’s claimed territorial waters in half by 12 nautical miles — something Taiwanese officials say challenges international order and amounts to a blockade of its sea and airspace. Read more
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The sites are surrounding the island in an unprecedented formation, Meng Xiangqing, a professor at the National Defense University, told Chinese state television, describing how an actual military operation against Taiwan might play out.
“In fact, it has created very good conditions for us when we reshape our strategic landscape in the future, favorable to our unification,” Meng said.
Chinese forces in two areas off Taiwan’s northern coast could potentially block Keelung, a major port, while strikes could be launched from an area east of Taiwan targeting military bases in Hualien and Taidong, he said.
The “doors” to Kaoshiung could also be closed by the Chinese military off the southwest coast, Meng said.
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Reporting by Ryan Woo; Editing by Jacqueline Wong and Simon Cameron-Moore
Our standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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