• Chinese soldiers participated in drills on Sunday that was centred on land attacks and long-range airstrikes around Taiwan, according to its military.
• Around noon local time on Sunday, the Chinese military’s Eastern Theater Command announced that it had “as planned” carried out live-fire drills in the air and on the water near Taiwan.
• The command stated in a statement published to its official account on the social media site Weibo that the drills “focused on joint fire land strikes and long-range air strike capabilities.”

On what was anticipated to be the penultimate day of extensive exercises carried out in reaction to a visit to the island by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Chinese soldiers participated in drills on Sunday that was centered on land attacks and long-range airstrikes around Taiwan, according to its military.

Around noon local time on Sunday, the Chinese military’s Eastern Theater Command announced that it had “as planned” carried out live-fire drills in the air and on the water near Taiwan.

The command stated in a statement published to its official account on the social media site Weibo that the drills “focused on joint fire land strikes and long-range air strike capabilities.” The command did not say if the drills were complete.

According to Chinese official media, the exercises, which were supposed to take place in six zones around the island, started on Thursday and were supposed to go through Sunday at noon local time in Beijing.

In a slight change of phrase from Saturday, when it said that Chinese military drills around the island could be a “possible simulated attack,” Taiwan’s Defense Ministry reported on Sunday that it had seen numerous Chinese aircraft, naval vessels, and drones operating in the Taiwan Strait that morning. It described this activity as a “simulated attack against the main island of Taiwan and Taiwan’s naval vessels.”

According to the Defense Ministry, Taiwan’s military “closely observed” the situation and sent out aircraft and ships to “appropriately” respond to Chinese military drills near the island. Drones “intruded,” according to the report, into nearby islands that Taiwan controls.

The government was unable to immediately specify how many Chinese planes, ships, or drones were found on Sunday morning or whether any of them breached the delicate median line dividing the island of Taiwan from the Chinese mainland.

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