Chinese military conducts precision strikes over Taiwan Strait

The Chinese military on Thursday said it has conducted precision strikes over the Taiwan Strait and expected results were achieved in apparent retaliation to the US House Speaker Nancy Pelosis visit to Taipei disregarding Beijings vociferous warningsChina views Taiwan as part of its territory despite having never controlled it and has long vowed to reunify the island with the Chinese mainland by force if necessaryPelosis trip to Taiwan the first by a sitting US Speaker in 25 years has angered China As the 82yearold top Democrat left Taiwan on Wednesday there were already signs of the strains her visit to Taipei had placed on Washingtons testy relationship with Beijing which warned the Biden administration that her trip would have a severe impact on the political foundation of ChinaUS relationsThe Peoples Liberation Army PLA conducted a longrange strike exercise on Thursday afternoon that bombarded a designated area in eastern parts of the Taiwan Straits official media here reportedThe livefire exercise took place at around 1300 hours local time and was carried out by the ground force of the PLA Eastern Theatre Command which oversees Taiwan and related areasPrecision munitions were launched and the operation achieved its planned goals it noted without elaborating the staterun China Daily reportedInformation about previous PLA Ground Force exercises in the Taiwan Straits shows that longrange artillery units equipped with multiple rocket launchers would usually be involved in such events the report saidThe PLA Eastern Theatre Command has been conducting a series of joint operations in the air and waters surrounding Taiwan since Tuesday nightStaterun Xinhua news agency reported earlier that the PLA will conduct important military exercises and training activities including livefire drills in the air and waters surrounding Taiwan from August 47In a short statement the PLA Eastern Theatre Command said precision strikes were carried out in specific areas over the east of the Taiwan StraitIt has achieved expected results the statement saidIt did not give more details and it is unclear if the PLA used rockets or missiles in the testMultiple drills have been taking place in six areas according to an announcement by the PLAs Eastern Theatre Command after US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi landed in Taipei on Tuesday nightFurious over the visit of Pelosi to Taipei the Chinese military on Wednesday conducted a series of navalair joint drills around Taiwan amid speculation that it may be attempting a blockade of the selfruled islandThe drills featured the Navy Air Force Rocket Force Strategic Support Force and Joint Logistic Support Force in the sea and air space north southwest and southeast of the Taiwan island the PLA Eastern Theatre Command said on WednesdayThursdays exercises indicate that Beijing is ramping up its intimidation campaign targeting Taipei in the wake of Pelosis visitIt is the first time the PLA has staged such a massive and complicated war game in what it deemed a de facto blockade of the island with almost all the PLA drill areas taking place across the median line that divides the Taiwan Strait and also covering the sensitive eastern coast of Taiwan Hong Kong based South China Morning Post reportedA US Navy P8A Poseidon maritime patrol plane and American MH60R antisubmarine helicopter Seahawk entered an area to the southwest of Taiwan where the PLA is conducting drills close to Kaohsiung around noon when the war games were getting started the Post report saidTaiwanese media reported that the Taiwanese air force was scrambling Mirage 2000 and F5 fighter jets early on Thursday to monitor the situation before the PLA started its war gamesMeng Xiangqing a professor at the National Defence University said the exercises cover areas including an area to the east of Pingtan Island in mainland Fujian province and off the coast of Keelung Port in northern TaiwanThe six major areas of this military exercise are the training areas closest to Taiwan island he told mainland state broadcaster CCTVIt has formed an encirclement of Taiwan island the Post report quoted him as sayingThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever