Team News Riveting
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) today fired several Dongfeng ballistic missiles as it began four days of unprecedented military drills off Taiwan.
The military drill is part of U S House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taipei the previous day. Beijing had threatened that it would “take all necessary measures” in retaliation should Pelosi visit Taiwan during her Asia tour.
The PLA fired 11 Dongfeng missiles into waters north, east and south of Taiwan proper, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. Taiwanese armed forces, using “forward warning and surveillance mechanisms,” monitored the missile tests in real time, activated the country’s defense systems and strengthened combat preparedness, it said.
“The ministry condemns these irrational acts that are damaging to regional peace,” ministry spokesman Major General Sun Li-fang told a news briefing.
China is holding drills in seven areas surrounding Taiwan proper over four days, rather than six areas, as China previously announced, the Maritime and Port Bureau said, adding that the additional area would be to the nation’s east.
According to analysts, the drills indicated that DF-15B missiles, which entered Chinese service in around 2000 and had a range of 600 km, were used.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs protested the drills, stating it threatened Taiwan’s national security, contributed to rising regional tensions, and caused disruptions in global trade and communications.
“The [foreign] ministry strongly condemns the Chinese imitation of North Korea’s behavior in conducting live-fire missile tests near another country’s sovereign waters and urges the communist regime to exercise self-control,” it said.
Meanwhile, Japan also protested as five Chinese ballistic missiles appeared to have landed in Japan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ). “To have five Chinese missiles fall within Japan’s EEZ like this is a first,” Japanese Minister of Defense Nobuo Kishi told reporters. “We have protested strongly through diplomatic channels.”
The zone stretches 200 nautical miles (370.4km) from the outer limits of Japan’s territorial seas. North Korean missiles have fallen within a different part of Japan’s EEZ in the past, including several earlier this year.
