THE People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command announced it had started a series of joint operations in the air and waters surrounding Taiwan starting Tuesday evening amid the provocative visit to Taiwan by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Senior Colonel Shi Yi, the command’s spokesman, said its naval and air forces will carry out joint exercises and training to the north, southwest and southeast of Taiwan. Meanwhile, long-range strike drills will take place in the Taiwan Strait and ballistic missiles will be fired into waters to the east of Taiwan.

The operations are intended to act as a deterrent to the serious escalations made recently by the U.S. on the Taiwan question and serve as a warning to “Taiwan independence” forces, he said.

Before the announcement, the PLA Air Force had sent its Su-35 fighter jets to cross the Taiwan Strait, China Central Television said on its social media account.

In a separate development, Xinhua News Agency said Tuesday night that the PLA will conduct important military exercises and training activities, including live-fire drills, in the air and waters surrounding Taiwan.

It said it had been authorized to publish information about the operations including the time — from Thursday noon to Sunday noon — and the geographical coordinates of the drill zones. The statement asked ships and aircraft unrelated to the event not to enter the zones for safety reasons.

Senior Colonel Wu Qian, a spokesman for the Ministry of National Defense, also published a statement late Tuesday night, saying that the PLA is on high alert and will take a host of targeted countermeasures to respond to Pelosi’s visit.

He said the PLA will firmly safeguard China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and will definitely thwart “Taiwan independence” attempts and foreign forces’ interference, he noted.

(China Daily, Xinhua)

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