The Taiwanese army began live-fire maneuvers on Tuesday to test the defensive capabilities of its military forces in the face of a possible invasion by China.
The activities began on the same day that Beijing extended the military exercises around the island for the sixth day, which began last Thursday.
The annual tests of heavy artillery announced by Taiwan are taking place at the Fenggang training camp in the south of the island, according to the CNA news agency.
In the area of activity, which covers a kilometer off the coast of Fenggang, it simulates the defensive combat mode with which Taiwanese forces would seek to block an enemy advance at sea.
The exercise zone “does not overlap at all” with the one used in previous days by the People’s Liberation Army (the Chinese army), according to Lou Weijie, director of war policy for the Taiwanese army.
The crisis between Taiwan and China originated with the visit to the island, last week, of the Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, which yielded a promise of reprisals from Beijing.
The island’s Foreign Minister Wu Zhaoxie urged all countries that “love freedom and democracy” to work together and discuss a joint way to tackle China’s “actions and methods against Taiwan” at a press conference. “.
“China is trying to convert the Strait of Formosa into an internal sea, denying the status quo, that it is an international waterway, affecting the international community’s right to freedom of navigation,” said the foreign minister.
Earlier, the Chinese army announced that it would prolong the “combat-oriented, sea and air” military maneuvers being carried out around Taiwan for a sixth day, initially scheduled to end on Sunday.
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