The Army Penghu Defense Command yesterday morning conducted a live-fire exercise in the seas off Magong (馬公), hours ahead of Chinese military drills around Niushan Island off China’s Fujian Province.
Earlier this month, the Fisheries Agency issued an alert that the area around and above Penghu’s Magong army base would be closed from 5am to 7am yesterday and tomorrow; from 5am to 7am as well as from 10pm to midnight on Thursday; and provisionally from 5am to 7am on Friday.
The area has been closed to navigation and flights below 1,524m to allow for live-fire exercises, the notice said.
Photo courtesy of the Army Penghu Defense Command
The drills are part of the army’s annual Chen Chiang exercise in the region, but would feature night-time shooting for the first time in recent years, a military source said on condition of anonymity.
The Army Penghu Defense Command’s capability to utilize combined light and heavy weapons fire in defensive operations would be tested against simulated enemy forces, the source said.
The army’s M60A3 main battle tanks are being deployed in the exercise, the source added.
Separately, authorities in China’s Fujian Province issued an area alert, saying the waters surrounding Niushan Island were closed to navigation due to a live-fire exercise.
Taipei and Hsinchu are 119km and 165km from the Chinese island respectively.
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