Taiwan tense as China launches missiles

Beijing: The Chinese military on Thursday launched a four-day war game with precision strikes using ballistic missiles over the Taiwan Strait, in retaliation to US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taipei disregarding Beijing’s vociferous warnings.

 The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) fired several ballistic missiles into waters to the east of Taiwan on Thursday afternoon, with all of them hitting targets accurately, a Chinese military spokesman said.

Senior Colonel Shi Yi, a spokesman for the PLA Eastern Theatre Command, said that rocket forces in multiple locations on the mainland launched several types of missiles carrying conventional warheads to designated waters off the eastern coast of Taiwan.

The Rocket Force is a new wing of the Chinese military, which was created a few years ago under the reforms launched by President Xi Jinping to exclusively deal with missile systems. The drills tested the rocket forces’ capabilities to conduct precision attacks and area denial tasks, Sr Col Shi noted, adding that the missile test operations had concluded and related airspace and waters had been reopened to civilian use.

The PLA will perform long-range artillery strikes and ballistic missile launches to target areas around Taiwan in the coming days, official media here quoted the military as saying.

On Wednesday, the PLA said it plans to conduct the war games in the region from August 4-7. The drills were expected to continue till Sunday. This is the second time this week the Chinese military announced missile test plans in the Taiwan Strait.

Taiwan has confirmed that the PLA has launched several Dongfeng tactical ballistic missiles capable of flying up to 500 km into waters northeast and southwest waters of the island on Thursday afternoon, a day after Pelosi left the island. A statement from the island’s defence ministry said the firing of multiple DF series missiles began around 1350 BJT.

It is the first time mainland missiles have flown over the island. “The defence ministry condemned the irrational actions to undermine regional peace,” Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post quoted the Taiwanese Defence Ministry statement –AP