China's military held "shooting training" today off Taiwan's southwest coast, the Ministry of National Defense said, calling the move provocative and dangerous.
From 8:42am, the military detected 32 Chinese military aircraft carrying out a "joint combat readiness drill" with Chinese warships in the Taiwan Strait area, the ministry said in a statement.
Photo: Reuters
"During this period it even blatantly violated international practice by setting up a drills area in waters about 40 nautical miles (74km) off the coast ... without prior warning, claiming that it would carry out 'shooting training,'" it added.
The southwestern population centers of Kaohsiung and Pingtung County that figured in the ministry's statement are both home to important naval and air bases.
The exercises endanger the safety of international flights and shipping, and is a "blatant provocation" to regional peace and stability, the ministry said, adding that it had dispatched its own forces to keep watch.
China's other recent military activity in the region, such as that off Australia's coast, gave "proof that China is the only, and the greatest, threat to peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and the Indo-Pacific region," the ministry said.
There was no immediate confirmation from China that it was carrying out new drills around Taiwan and its defense ministry did not respond to a request for comment.
Earlier today, China's official Xinhua news agency said the Chinese Communist Party's fourth ranked leader, Wang Huning (王滬寧), had called this week for greater effort in the cause of Chinese reunification.
China must "firmly grasp the right to dominate and take the initiative in cross-strait relations, and unswervingly push forward the cause of reunification of the motherland," it quoted Wang as telling an annual meeting on work related to Taiwan.
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