In a message posted on its official Twitter account, the island’s Ministry of National Defense said the target of the simulated attack was a “high-value asset,” without giving further details.
In response, Taipei issued warnings and activated air and naval patrols, as well as land-based missile systems, in response to “strong provocation” by “several” Chinese ships and aircraft crossing the middle of the Taiwan Strait.
This imaginary line across the strait has served as the unofficial but tacitly respected border between China and Taiwan for the past few decades.
The moves by the People’s Liberation Army were part of military exercises that began Thursday, including live fire and the launch of long-range missiles, and will continue until Sunday, the People’s Liberation Army’s response to Beijing after a visit by the leader of the People’s Liberation Army, US House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi.
The exercises take place in six locations around the island, one of which is 20 kilometers off the coast of Kaohsiung, the main city in southern Taiwan.
Although China has conducted other drills in the Taiwan Strait in recent years, this week’s drills are different because they “cover a larger area, involve more military elements and are expected to be more effective,” media quoted Chinese defense experts as saying. Local connection.
Taiwan described China’s military presence in those areas as a “siege,” and Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen called China’s “deliberately increased military threat” “irresponsible.”
China, which called Pelosi’s visit “a farce” and a “regrettable betrayal,” claims sovereignty over the island and considers Taiwan a breakaway province after the Kuomintang nationalists lost the war in 1949. Anti-communist public.
