The Chinese military began live-fire exercises in the sea surrounding Taiwan at noon (0400 GMT) on Thursday, state broadcaster CCTV said, a day after US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi infuriated Beijing by visiting the self-ruled island.
"From 12:00 pm today to 12:00 pm on (August) 7, an important military exercise of the People's Liberation Army is taking place," CCTV said, in a social media post that included a map of Taiwan.
Two missiles were launched by China near Taiwan's Matsu islands, which lie off the coast of China, at around 2 p.m. local time (0600 GMT) in the direction of drill zones announced by China.
Taiwan's defense ministry said that China had launched several Dongfeng ballistic missiles into waters around Taiwan's northeast and southwest starting from 13:56 local time, amid drills launched earlier on Thursday by Beijing.
The ministry said its military is closely monitoring the "enemy situation" in the Taiwan Strait and near Taiwan's outlying islands and all of its troops are carrying out daily training as usual, the Taiwan defense ministry statement added. And the military will continue to reinforce its alertness level and will react appropriately to the "enemy situation".
(AFP and Reuters)
Soldiers exit from AAV7 amphibious assault vehicle run to position during an Amphibious landing drill as part of the Han Kuang military exercise in Pingtung, Taiwan. (Reuters)
