BEIJING: China began military exercises in the East China sea to the north of Taiwan on Tuesday, including live-fire exercises from warships, as the US and its allies conduct their drills in the Western Pacific.
China routinely conducts exercises along its coast, though the ones near Chinese-claimed Taiwan often attract the most attention.
China’s Maritime Safety Administration issued a no sail zone warning from late morning to mid-afternoon on Tuesday for an area off Taizhou city in Zhejiang province for live fire exercises from warships.
Other drills around the same location will last until late Tuesday evening, it said.
The drills are near the Dachen islands, which Taiwan controlled until 1955 until being evacuated after other nearby islands were seized by Chinese forces in a bloody battle.
Taiwan still controls the Matsu and Kinmen islands, off the coast of China’s Fujian province, held since the defeated Republic of China government fled to Taipei after losing a civil war with Mao Zedong’s communists.