The Taiwanese military on Thursday held new live-fire exercises after Beijing completed its largest-ever military exercise around the island, which China considers an integral part of its territory.
Eighth Corps spokesman Lu Wei Jie told AFP that Taiwanese forces fired artillery shells and flares as part of a defensive exercise, adding that the exercise in Pingtung County (south) continued for an hour.
And the artillery guns that appeared live lined up on the shore, and the soldiers were distributed in parts, firing one shell after another towards the sea.
Taiwan has already held military exercises on Tuesday in Pingtung. The military said hundreds of people took part in both rounds of the maneuvers.
Authorities downplayed the drills, stressing that they were preplanned and not a response to China’s maneuvers.
China was outraged after US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan last week. In response to the visit, he held days of air and naval maneuvers around the island.
Taipei accused China of using Pelosi’s visit as an excuse to prepare for an invasion: “We have two goals for this exercise, the first is to ensure that the artillery is in good condition and maintained in good condition, and the second is to confirm last year’s results,” Lu said. , referring to the military exercises that took place in 2021.
Beijing announced the end of its maneuvers on Wednesday, stressing that its forces were “performing various tasks” in the Taiwan Strait, while at the same time committing to continue guarding its waters.
But in the same statement, China confirmed that it would “continue to conduct military exercises and prepare for war.”
Meanwhile, China’s Taiwan Affairs Administration said in a white paper on Wednesday that Beijing does not “renounce the use of force” against its neighbor and reserves “the ability to take all necessary measures.”
“We are ready to create a wide space (for cooperation) to achieve peaceful reunification. But we will leave no room for separatist actions aimed at achieving a false independence for Taiwan, ”the document says.
