Hong Kong
Cnn
–
The Chinese army has practiced live strikes in the East China Sea in an escalation of surprise exercises in progress near Taiwan, the command of the oriental theater of the Popular Liberation Army in a statement said on Wednesday.
The Chinese armed forces launched exercises, nicknamed “Strait Thunder-2025a”, in the mid and southern areas of the Taiwan Strait on Wednesday, focusing on the test of the capacities of the troops of “joint blocking and control” and “Stricas Specise on key targets”, said Colonel Shi Yi, the spokesperson for the Eastern theater Colonel Shi Yi.
As part of the exercises, which were not announced in advance, the land army of the command of the Oriental theater has led “long -range strike exercises live in the designated areas of the East China Sea”, according to the press release.
“The exercises involved precision on simulated targets such as key ports and energy facilities and obtained the expected results,” added Shi.
Wednesday exercises occurred after the APL conducted joint exercises involving its army, its navy, its air force and its rockets around Taiwan “of several directions” on Tuesday, a few days after the American defense chief Pete Hegseth promised to counter “the attack on China” during his first visit to Asia.
The command of the East theater said that the exercises were a “severe warning and an energetic deterrence against the separatist forces of” Taiwan’s independence “, describing them as” legitimate action and necessary to protect the sovereignty of China and national unity “.
For Taiwan, a democracy of some 23 million people who are only 80 miles from China at its nearest point, the exercises are the last recall of the threat which comes from its giant neighbor managed by the Communist Party, which claims the island as its own and has sworn to grasp it by force if necessary.
Taiwan denounced exercises as an “irrational provocation” and accused China of being a “troublemaker”.
The United States, the largest Taiwan international donor, condemned what he called “the irresponsible threats of China and military pressure operations near Taiwan”.
“The escalation of military intimidation tactics of China only exacerbates the tensions and undermining the peace and the stability of the cross traits,” the State Department said in a statement.
This is a story in development and will be updated.