Overview
- The PLA’s Eastern Theater Command activated naval, air and rocket units, employing destroyers, frigates, fighters, bombers and drones.
- Five zones around the island will be subject to 10‑hour sea and airspace closures from 8:30 a.m. local time Tuesday for live-fire drills.
- State broadcaster CCTV said the maneuvers practice blockading major ports, including Keelung in the north and Kaohsiung in the south.
- Taipei condemned the action as flouting international norms, reported Chinese coast guard vessels off its coasts, dispatched larger ships and said its military set up an operations center.
- The drills follow U.S. approval of about $11.1 billion in arms for Taiwan and remarks by Japan’s prime minister, and they mark the first major exercise since April and the first time Beijing publicly cites deterring foreign intervention as an aim.