Chinese People’s Liberation Army Eastern Theater Command on Monday “successfully” wrapped up all missions in the combat alert patrols and exercises encircling Taiwan from Saturday, the state-run Global Times reported.
The Command also conducted a comprehensive testing of the integrated joint operational capabilities of multiple military services and branches under realistic combat scenarios, Army Senior Colonel Shi Yi, the command’s spokesman, said in a statement. Shi also said the command troops will prepare for and be ready for battle at all time, and resolutely crush any kind of “Taiwan independence” secessionist or external interference attempts.
The Chinese military exercises near Taiwan came after Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen met US House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy, the third highest-ranking official of the US government, in California last week.
During the three-day exercise, several destroyers and frigates conducted suppressive combat patrol missions, as they pointedly carried out training courses including assaults on fleeing hostile vessels and maritime blockade, according to the report. On the final day, China’s newest aircraft carrier Shandong joined command’s combat alert patrols and exercises, it said, adding that dozens of fighter jets carried out combat patrols in the Taiwan Straits and northern and southern tips of the island.
When then US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan last August, China responded with large-scale military drills near Taiwan. China and Taiwan separated after a civil war in 1949, but Beijing regards the island as its territory.
Source: Kuwait News Agency