Taiwan starts live-fire artillery drill amid China's maneuvers

TAIPEI, 9 Aug. (DPA/EP) -

Taiwan's Ministry of Defense announced on Tuesday that it will carry out scheduled live-fire artillery exercises amid China's current military maneuvers around the island following growing tension unleashed by the visit of the Speaker of the House of Representatives. United States Representatives, Nancy Pelosi.

The live artillery drill, known as the 'Tien Lei' drill, was announced in late July and is intended to simulate defending Taiwan against an attack by the Chinese People's Liberation Army.

The drill will take place on Tuesday and Thursday this week and was previously scheduled as part of the country's annual drills, though it comes amid escalating tensions across the Taiwan Strait.

Taiwanese television has reported that flares have been fired in coastal areas during the military exercise in Pingtung County, in southern Taiwan, near an area previously designated by the Chinese Army for its drill.

However, the Taiwanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs has condemned the extension of China's maneuvers near the island for another day.

"China's true intention behind these military exercises is to upset the 'status quo' in the Taiwan Strait and in the entire region," Taiwanese Foreign Minister Joseph Wu said at a press conference on Tuesday. Tuesday in Taipei.

Wu has stated that China's large-scale military exercises, missile launches and cyber attacks were part of Beijing's "military playbook to prepare for the invasion of Taiwan." Likewise, he has asserted that they were strategies to "weaken public morals" on the island.