Global Courant 2023-04-21 03:31:37
BEIJING – China’s military plans to conduct at least five exercises in various areas, including offshore waters and the South China Sea, amid escalating tensions with Taiwan and the US.
One of the announced military exercises will be held for three days in the waters of the port city of Qingdao, home to a key naval base for the People’s Liberation Army, according to a statement from China’s Maritime Safety Administration on Thursday. Unspecified “major military activities” were conducted in the same area from 9 a.m. to noon on Tuesday.
The agency warned sailors against entering the waters off the coast of Shandong province, an area where military exercises are regularly held and far from the territory of the US’s regional security partners.
China has escalated military and space activity off its coast in recent days amid rising tensions with Taiwan and the US.
Beijing similarly declared an area north of the democratically governed island off limits on Sunday due to the risk of falling debris from the launch of a weather satellite.
Tensions over Taiwan, which Beijing considers part of China, are particularly intense after President Tsai Ing-wen met with Speaker of the House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy in California earlier this month, prompting China’s military to call for exercises. to keep in the area.
Beijing restricted flights and shipping around Taiwan in August as it held military exercises to protest a visit by then-Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.
The PLA is also holding exercises from 6 p.m. Friday to 8 a.m. Sunday in the South China Sea, according to a separate statement from the Maritime Safety Administration on Wednesday.
This comes before the largest military exercises between the US and the Philippines, due next week – part of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to advance the long-standing alliance. The US has recently gained extensive access to Philippine military sites and the two nations are planning joint patrols in the South China Sea, where Beijing and Manila have a territorial dispute. BLOOMBERG
China plans to conduct intensive military exercises
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