China kicks off live firing exercise in Taiwan Strait

TAIPEI

China's military began a live fire exercise near Taiwan on Wednesday, maintaining pressure on the self-ruled island after staging large-scale drills and President Xi Jinping called for troops to prepare for war.

China's Communist Party has never ruled the island, but it claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has said it will not renounce the use of force to bring it under its control.

This month it sent planes and warships around the island, in what Beijing said was a "stern warning to the separatist acts of 'Taiwan Independence' forces."

On Oct. 21, the Maritime Safety Administration (MSA) in the eastern island of Pingtan announced that "gun firing" would take place in a limited area close to the Chinese mainland and about 105 kilometers from self-ruled Taiwan.

The MSA said they would kick off at 9 a.m. local time and take place for four hours in an area encompassing about 150 square kilometers.

Pingtan is the closest point in mainland China to Taiwan's main island.

Maritime authorities did not say which Chinese force would be carrying out the live firing, or its objective.

Over the weekend, a U.S. and a Canadian warship passed through the 180-kilometer Taiwan Strait, part of regular passages by Washington and its allies meant to reinforce its status as an international waterway.

Beijing condemned the passage as disrupting "peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait."