China Military Drill: Live-fire exercises held in the Taiwan Strait

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02:09

The People's Liberation Army of China has held live-fire drills along the country's south-eastern coastline. Taiwan authorities played down the importance and timing of the drills. The PLA's exercises took place from eight o'clock Wednesday morning until midnight. Jiang Shaoyi has the story.

Live ammunition, tough combat scenarios and coordination between land and sea. Wednesday's drills have set the stage to test the combat capabilities of the PLA's Air Force, which plays an important role in safeguarding China's coastal areas.

YANG BAOWEI BRIGADE COMMANDER, PLA ARMY AVIATION "The drills are conducted in different combat scenarios, including night-time, maritime, and complicated electromagnetic environments. For combat modes, we're focusing on long-distance, coordinated strikes on maritime targets with multiple kinds of ammunition."

This is China's second military drill this month. Unlike the first in the South China Sea, these drills focused on a specific area of water -- the Taiwan Strait.

They are seen as a response to comments by Taiwan politician Lai Ching-te in support of independence.

The military drill was announced last week, but Taiwan authorities have tried to play down the exercise and warnings coming from the mainland.

PENG SHENGZHU DIRECTOR OF TAIWAN SECURITY DEPARTMENT "The current exercise we have seen so far is basically routine. It does not seem to target a specific issue."

Cross-Strait relations have deteriorated since Tsai Ing-wen came to office in 2016, largely because she has not acknowledged the 1992 Consensus.

Lai Ching-te, her newly appointed leader of the executive branch, is a long-standing independence advocate, notes a mainland official.

LIU JIEYI DIRECTOR, TAIWAN AFFAIRS OFFICE "Lai Ching-te is advocating Taiwan independence. We want to say that there is no way such claims will happen. We held this military exercise to safeguard our motherland's sovereignty and territorial integrity."

Tsai has been posing as a hard-line leader, by alienating her administration from the Chinese mainland and chasing US favor, which Washington gladly granted. But now many in Taiwan are worried the island will become a mere stepping-stone for US President Donald Trump to implement his ambitious Asia-Pacific strategy. Jiang Shaoyi, CGTN.