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PLA Navy steps up real-life combat drills in East China Sea near Taiwan

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Liu Zhen, South China Morning Post

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><strong><img alt="A Chinese naval ship participates in Aman exercise in the Arabian sea, in Pakistan on February 15, 2021 Shahzaib Akber, EPA-EFE/file" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2022/overseas/03/05/chinese-naval-ship.jpg"/></strong><figcaption>A Chinese naval ship participates in Aman exercise in the Arabian sea, in Pakistan on February 15, 2021.<strong> <em>Shahzaib Akber, EPA-EFE/file</em></strong></figcaption></figure></div><div><strong>Sailors always ready for battle, Eastern Theatre Command says in online post highlighting actual combat practice</strong></div><div><strong>Drills follow series of air and sea exercises in response to US lawmakers’ visit to Taiwan in April</strong></div><p>The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) says it has intensified “realistic combat” exercises in the East China Sea, as Beijing’s tensions with Taiwan boil over.</p><p>The PLA Eastern Theatre Command on Tuesday revealed the details of a recent navy strike group drill, with a post on the naval unit’s official social media account saying the exercises were “closely related to the [PLA Navy’s] missions and tasks, focused on combat enemies and highlighted actual combat conditions”.</p><p>The training included more than 10 kinds of drills, such as close-in gun defense, main gun attack on the sea, tracking and surveillance, damage control, and search and rescue operations, according to the post.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/overseas/03/19/22/chinese-carrier-sails-in-taiwan-strait-before-biden-xi-call">Chinese carrier sails through Taiwan Strait hours before Biden-Xi call</a></li>	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/03/16/22/innocent-passage-china-defends-ships-intrusion-into-sulu-sea">&#x27;Innocent passage&#x27;: Beijing defends Chinese navy ship&#x27;s intrusion into Sulu Sea</a></li></ul><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/03/14/22/dfa-summons-beijing-envoy-over-chinese-navy-ship-in-ph-waters">DFA summons Beijing envoy over Chinese navy ship&#x27;s intrusion in PH waters</a></li>	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/overseas/04/27/22/chinese-navy-ship-enters-japan-waters">Chinese navy ship enters Japan waters near Kagoshima Pref. islands</a></li></ul><p>Do you have questions about the biggest topics and trends from around the world? Get the answers with SCMP Knowledge, our new platform of curated content with explainers, FAQs, analyses and infographics brought to you by our award-winning team.</p><p>&quot;This training ... helped the troops to further improve their capability and toughness in combat to win battles,&quot; the command said. &quot;East China Sea sailors are always ready for battle.&quot;</p><p>The command did not specify the time and location of the training, but named two warships in the flotilla - Type 054 frigate the Wenzhou and a Type 056 corvette, the Deyang.</p><p>The drills appeared to be a follow-up to a series of PLA joint forces exercises in the waters and airspace around Taiwan, launched in response to a visit to the island by a bipartisan group of US lawmakers, who sought to reassure Taipei of Washington&#x27;s support in the event of an attack from mainland China.</p><p>Right after news of the visit broke, it was reported that the Deyang and a frigate were launching &quot;high-intensity, full-load training&quot; exercises.</p><p>Eastern Theatre Command spokesman Shi Yi had said at the time that the show of power was a warning against the &quot;false signals sent out by the US on the Taiwan issue&quot;.</p><p>Beijing considers self-ruled Taiwan to be a breakaway province from the days of the unresolved Chinese civil war, to be taken back by force if necessary. Washington, while switching recognition to Beijing in 1979, has retained - and stepped up in recent years - its close ties with the government in Taipei.</p><p>Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February, calls in Washington to provide more security support to Taipei have grown louder, further worsening the atmosphere over the Taiwan Strait and East China Sea.</p><p>On Monday, the Chinese aircraft carrier Liaoning led a large strike group of seven warships into the western Pacific for &quot;routine training&quot;. The USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group is currently deployed in the Philippine Sea, not far from the Chinese flotilla.</p><div><strong>Copyright (c) 2022. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.</strong></div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=1946046" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more News on <a href="https://www.iwanttfc.com/#!/browse/Genres/News/tag_id_genres/id_news" target="_blank">iWantTFC</a></div>

The People’s Liberation Army says it has intensified “realistic combat” exercises in the East China Sea, as Beijing’s tensions with Taiwan boil over.

PLA Navy steps up real-life combat drills in East China Sea near Taiwan

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PLA Navy steps up real-life combat drills in East China Sea near Taiwan

Liu Zhen,

South China Morning Post

Published May 05, 2022 08:20 AM PHT

Read More:

china

taiwan

east china sea

taipei

beijing

SCMP

PLA

People's Liberation Army

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