China announces military exercises near Taiwan

Shanghai: (Archyde.com)
China’s armed forces conducted another round of exercises near Taiwan last week to improve joint combat operations, China’s People’s Liberation Army said on Monday, after the Chinese-claimed island detected an increase in Chinese military activities.
Over the past two years, Taiwan has complained of frequent Chinese military activities near it, most of which are concentrated in the southern and southwestern part of the island’s air defense identification zone.
On Friday, the Taiwan Air Force rushed to warn 18 Chinese aircraft that had entered the island’s air defense identification zone, and reported more incursions on Saturday and Sunday, albeit using fewer aircraft. The Eastern Command of the People’s Liberation Army said in a statement that the navy and air force carried out exercises from Friday to Sunday in areas to the east and southwest of Taiwan.
Without elaborating, she added, the exercises were aimed at “testing and improving the combined combat capability of multiple services and weapons.” The Taiwan Defense Ministry said the equipment used in the exercises included bombers, fighters and anti-submarine aircraft.
She added that no shots were fired and no Chinese planes flew in Taiwan’s airspace, but the planes flew into the island’s air defense identification zone, a wider area that Taiwan monitors and patrols to give it more time to respond to any threats. Japan reported last week that eight Chinese navy ships, including an aircraft carrier, passed between islands in Japan’s southern Okinawa chain to the northeast of Taiwan.
Taiwan also conducted previously announced missile exercises and other exercises off its southern and southeastern coasts last week.
China has never given up the option of using force to bring Taiwan under its control, and the Taiwan Strait remains a potentially dangerous military flashpoint.
Taiwan’s government rejects China’s claims to sovereignty, saying only the island’s 23 million residents can decide their future.