Taiwan kicks off live fire defense exercise on day 6 of Chinese military drills

The army of Taiwan started this Tuesday defense exercise, with live firegiven the latent possibility of an invasion by Chinanation that for the sixth consecutive day has carried out military exercises around the island, in response to the visit of the president of the United States House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi.

Lou Woei-jye, spokesman for the Taiwan Eighth Army Corps, confirmed that the exercises began in southern Pingtung County shortly after 8:40 am (local time) with the firing of rockets and artillery, and which lasted just under an hour. When the last battery of shots was fired, Taiwanese soldiers could be heard shouting “mission accomplished”.

The Taiwanese exercises will also take place on Thursday and will include the deployment of hundreds of troops and about 40 howitzers, the army said. In any case, Lou assured that the exercises were already planned and were not a response to the Chinese maneuvers. In fact, he assured that the exercise area does not “overlap at all” with that used in the previous days by the People’s Liberation Army (EPL, the Chinese army).

The island, with a democratic government, regularly hosts fake Chinese invasions. Last month, for example, it practiced repelling seaborne attacks during its largest annual exercises.

In response to these recent EPL military exercises, Taiwanese Foreign Minister Wu Zhaoxie told a news conference Tuesday that they are “a unreasonable provocation”And that Pelosi’s trip“ is just an excuse for China ”.

“China is trying to transform the Taiwan Strait into an internal sea, denying the status quo of being an international waterway, damaging the right of the international community to freedom of navigation,” added the Taiwanese diplomat.

In the meantime, he called on all countries that “love freedom and democracy” to work together and discuss together how to deal with “China’s actions and methods against Taiwan”.

“China conducts large-scale military exercises and launches missiles, as well as cyber attacks, a disinformation campaign and economic coercion to undermine public morals in TaiwanWu warned.

For its part, the Chinese army has extended the military maneuvers that it carries out around Taiwan since last Thursday. Although it was initially scheduled to end on Sunday, they have already been extended by two more days than planned.

In a statement published on the social network Weibo – equivalent to Twitter, censored in China -, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) indicated that it “will continue to organize joint combat-oriented maneuvers by sea and by air”, focusing this Tuesday on “joint containment and security operations.

The first days of maneuvers

The first four days of maneuvers were extended to six areas around the island, in which air and sea space were closed and included live fire and long-range missile launchessome of which fell into Japanese waters causing an official protest from the Japanese government.

The Taiwanese Ministry of National Defense denounced in those days that numerous Chinese ships and military aircraft had crossed the midline of the Strait of Formosa, which in practice is an unofficial border, but until now tacitly respected by Taipei and Beijing.

In reaction to China’s moves and in order to test its “combat readiness”, the self-governing island announced it will hold military exercises tomorrow, Tuesday and Thursday in Pingtung County, including artillery fire, according to the Taiwanese official. CNA agency.

China, which called Pelosi’s visit a “farce” and a “deplorable betrayal”, claims sovereignty over Taiwanan island considered a rebel province since the Kuomintang nationalists withdrew there in 1949, after losing the civil war against the Communists.

With information from agencies.

IT