Chinese military conducts precision missile strikes over Taiwan Strait a day after Pelosi's visit
Beijing, Aug 4: The Chinese military on Thursday launched a four-day war game with precision strikes using ballistic missiles over the Taiwan Strait, in retaliation to US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taipei disregarding Beijing's vociferous warnings.
The People's Liberation Army (PLA) fired several ballistic missiles into waters to the east of Taiwan on Thursday afternoon, with all of them hitting targets accurately, a Chinese military spokesman said.
Senior Colonel Shi Yi, a spokesman for the PLA Eastern Theatre Command, said that rocket forces in multiple locations on the mainland launched several types of missiles carrying conventional warheads to designated waters off the eastern coast of Taiwan.
The Rocket Force is a new wing of the Chinese military, which was created a few years ago under the reforms launched by President Xi Jinping to exclusively deal with missile systems.
The drills tested the rocket forces' capabilities to conduct precision attacks and area-denial tasks, Sr Col Shi noted, adding that the missile test operations had concluded and related airspace and waters had been reopened to civilian use.
The PLA will perform long-range artillery strikes and ballistic missile launches to target areas around Taiwan in the coming days, official media here quoted the military as saying. On Wednesday, the PLA said it plans to conduct the war games in the region from August 4-7. The drills were expected to continue till Sunday.
This is the second time this week the Chinese military announced missile test plans in the Taiwan Strait.
China views Taiwan as part of its territory, despite having never controlled it and has long vowed to reunify the island with the Chinese mainland, by force if necessary.
Taiwan has confirmed that the PLA has launched several Dongfeng tactical ballistic missiles capable of flying up to 500 km into waters northeast and southwest waters of the island on Thursday afternoon, a day after Pelosi left the island.
A statement from the island's defence ministry said the firing of multiple DF series missiles began around 1350 BJT. It is the first time mainland missiles have flown over the island.
The defence ministry condemned the irrational actions to undermine regional peace, Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post quoted the Taiwanese Defence Ministry statement.
Taiwan also cancelled airline flights on Thursday as the Chinese navy fired artillery near the island.
The PLA Eastern Command, which oversees military operations in Taiwan Straits, issued two statements saying that it conducted precision strikes in specific areas over the east of the Taiwan Strait.
All the missiles hit the target accurately, testing the precision strike and area denial capabilities. The entire live ammunition launch training mission has been successfully completed, and the relevant sea and airspace control has been lifted, the PLA statement said.
Video footage from the state-owned China Central Television showed several Dongfeng series ballistic missiles were launched from unknown bases on the mainland, and launched at targets in waters off Keelung port, Hualien and Taitung counties.
Chinese defence ministry spokesman Tan Kefei said the drills were clearly targeting collusion between Taiwan and the United States.
The Chinese military will do what they have said, Tan said in a statement, the Post reported.
The collusion between Taiwan and the US will only plunge Taiwan into a deep disaster and bring serious harm to Taiwan's compatriots, Tan said.
The PLA drills also came amid vocal criticism by Chinese especially in the local social media about the failure of China stopping Pelosi's visit despite public assertions earlier by Beijing that it would not allow her visit, highest by a top American leader in 25 years to Taiwan to go ahead.
Travelling by US Air Force plane along with a US Congressional delegation, Pelosi arrived in Taipei on Tuesday and left on Wednesday under the glare of international publicity.
Pelosi's visit was regarded as a setback for the image of Chinese President Xi, who is widely expected to get an unprecedented third five-year term unlike his predecessors. He is expected to be endorsed in the once-in-a-five-year Congress of the ruling Communist Party of China in the next few months.
In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying on Thursday staunchly defended the military drills, saying 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.
About the US State Department's assertion that China is using Pelosi's visit as an excuse to change the status quo, Hua, who is also the Assistant Foreign Minister, shot back asking, What is the status quo on the Taiwan question?
It is crystal clear that two sides on the Taiwan Strait belong to one and the same China. China's sovereignty and territorial integrity have never been split. This is the real status quo on Taiwan," she asserted.
Accusing the US of creating the crisis in the Taiwan Strait, Hua said the US is colluding with Taiwan independence" forces.
The US side has been distorting, obscuring and hollowing out the One China Principle. It is playing the Taiwan card' to contain China," she said, adding that things would not have come this way without Pelosi's visit to Taiwan .
She also hit back at Group of Seven (G7) Foreign Ministers' statement, calling on China not to use the Pelosi's visit to Taiwan as "pretext for aggressive military activity in the Taiwan Strait", saying they still live in an imperialist world of the past to ride roughshod over Chinese people.
"The statement makes one believe that they live in a world 120 years ago," she said. 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. It's time for these people to wake up from their imperialist dream," she said.
Furious over the visit of Pelosi to Taipei, the Chinese military on Wednesday conducted a series of naval-air joint drills around Taiwan amid speculation that it may be attempting a blockade of the self-ruled island.
The drills featured the Navy, Air Force, Rocket Force, Strategic Support Force and Joint Logistic Support Force in the sea and air space north, southwest and southeast of the Taiwan island, the PLA Eastern Theatre Command said on Wednesday.
Thursday's exercises indicate that Beijing is ramping up its intimidation campaign targeting Taipei in the wake of Pelosi's visit.
It is the first time the PLA has staged such a massive and complicated war game in what it deemed a de facto blockade of the island with almost all the PLA drill areas taking place across the median line that divides the Taiwan Strait and also covering the sensitive eastern coast of Taiwan, Hong Kong based South China Morning Post reported.
A US Navy P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol plane and American MH-60R anti-submarine helicopter Seahawk entered an area to the southwest of Taiwan where the PLA is conducting drills close to Kaohsiung around noon when the war games were getting started, the Post report said.
Taiwanese media reported that the Taiwanese air force was scrambling Mirage 2000 and F-5 fighter jets early on Thursday to monitor the situation before the PLA started its war games.
Meng Xiangqing, a professor at the National Defence University, said the exercises cover areas including an area to the east of Pingtan Island in mainland Fujian province, and off the coast of Keelung Port in northern Taiwan.
The six major areas of this military exercise are the training areas closest to Taiwan island, he told mainland state broadcaster CCTV. It has formed an encirclement of Taiwan island, the Post report quoted him as saying.
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Strict security measures in place in Mumbai for Messi's events at 2 venues Dec 14, say police
Mumbai (PTI): In view of Argentine superstar footballer Lionel Messi's visit to Mumbai on Sunday, the city police are implementing stringent security measures, like not allowing water bottles, metals, coins inside the stadiums and setting up watchtowers to keep an eye on the crowd, officials said.
The police also said taking extra care to avoid any stampede-like situation and to prevent recurrence of the chaotic situation that unfolded in Kolkata during Messi's visit on Saturday as thousands of fans protested inside the Salt Lake stadium here after failing to catch a clear glimpse of the football icon despite paying hefty sums for tickets.
Messi is expected to be present at the Cricket Club of India (Brabourne Stadium) in Mumbai on Sunday for a Padel GOAT Cup event followed by attending a celebrity football match. He is expected to proceed to the Wankhede Stadium for the GOAT India Tour main event around 5 pm.
"In view of Lionel Messi's visit to Mumbai, the police are geared up and have put in place a high level of security arrangements in and around the stadiums located in south Mumbai. Considering the chaos that prevailed in Kolkata and the security breach, we have deployed World Cup-level security arrangements at Brabourne and Wankhede stadiums," an official said.
Expecting heavy crowd near the stadiums during Messi's visit, the city police force has deployed more than 2,000 of its personnel near and around both the venues, he said.
As the Mumbai police have the experience of security 'bandobast' during the victory parade of ICC World Cup-winning Indian team and World Cup final match at the Wankhede Stadium, in which over one lakh cricket fans had gathered, we are prepared to handle a large crowd of fans, he said.
"We are trying to avoid the errors that occurred in the past," the official said.
There is no place to sneak inside the stadiums in Mumbai like the Kolkata stadium, according to him.
The police are also asking the organisers to provide all the required facilities to the fans inside the stadium, so that there will be no chaos, he said, adding the spectators have purchased tickets in the range of Rs 5,000 to 25,000. After paying so much of amount, any spectator expects proper services, while enjoying the event, he said.
The police are expecting 33,000 spectators at the Wankhede Stadium and over 4,000 at Brabourne Stadium. Besides this, more than 30,000 people are expected outside and around the stadiums just to have a glimpse of the football sensation, he said.
The organisers responsible for Messi's India visit recently came to Mumbai to discuss security arrangements. During the meeting, the Mumbai police asked them not to take the event lightly, according to the official.
After those requirements were fulfilled, the final security deployment was chalked out, he said.
Police has the standard procedure of the security arrangements inside the Wankhede Stadium, where people are barred from taking water bottles, metals objects, coins. Police are setting up watch towers near the stadiums and there will be traffic diversions, so that there is maximum space available to stand, according to the official.
Police are also appealing to the spectators to use public transport service for commuting and avoid personal vehicles to reach south Mumbai.
To avoid any stampede-like situation, police are also taking precautionary measures and will stop the fans some distance ahead of the stadium and public announcement systems will be used to guide the crowd. Barricades will be placed at various places to manage the crowd.
In case the crowd swells up beyond expectation, the police will divert people to other grounds and preparations in this regard underway, he said.
Additional police force has been deployed in south Mumbai to tackle any kind of situation, he said.
