China fires missiles into waters off Taiwan in ‘unprecedented’ drills

The drills, which will continue until Sunday, were part of Beijing’s response to Wednesday’s visit by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan

China’s military on Thursday began unprecedented live-firing drills in six regions surrounding Taiwan, firing missiles from its eastern coast into waters east of the island and putting in place an effective blockade that disrupted flights and shipping.

The drills, which will continue until Sunday, were part of Beijing’s response to Wednesday’s visit by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan.

“What we are taking and will be taking are a necessary and timely response and countermeasures which have been fully thought through and fully assessed, to protect sovereignty and territorial integrity, in line with international laws, and a warning to provocateurs,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said, announcing that Beijing had also called off a meeting set for Thursday between the Foreign Ministers of China and Japan to express its displeasure over a statement by the G7 group of nations that had defended Ms. Pelosi’s visit and criticised China’s actions.

“They clearly believe they live in the time of 120 years ago,” she said, comparing the G7 to the eight-nation alliance that invaded China in 1900. “We no longer live in a world where Imperialist powers can ride roughshod over Chinese people on Chinese land. Today’s China is not the old China of 100 years ago that was humiliated and bullied.”

Thursday’s drills, carried out by the PLA Eastern Theater Command, were a show of force aimed as much at Taiwan as at the domestic audience in China, coming after Beijing’s public warnings failed to deter Ms. Pelosi’s visit.

Starting at mid-day on Thursday, the long-range live-fire exercise carried out “precision strikes on specific areas in the eastern part of the Taiwan Strait,” Senior Colonel Shi Yi, spokesperson for the Eastern Theatre Command, said, adding that units of the rocket force conducted a “multi-zone fire assault drill”.

Chinese State media described the drills as “unprecedented” and noted that missiles, fired from the eastern coast of China, had likely flown above the island of Taiwan for the first time, as they had struck targets in waters to the east. Drills included the Dongfeng DF-17 hypersonic missile, State broadcaster China Central Television said.