According to a brief statement from the Maritime Safety Administration, the drills will run from this Saturday until the 15th in the southern part of the area, always between 08:00 and 18:00 local time.

The military command issued an alert for navigation and closed the passage to vessels not participating in the maneuvers.

With these new operations, the PLA is extending those initiated last Tuesday in rejection of the visit to Taiwan of the Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi.

The Army intensified its response on Thursday with a series of maneuvers that will conclude tomorrow around the island and is considered unprecedented because it takes place in the middle line of the Taiwan Strait, that is, closer to that territory.

The deployment includes real combat practice with conventional missiles, fighters, aircraft carriers and other heavy artillery equipment, and at the same time all units are on high alert for any possible emergency.

According to the Global Times, the drills will become more common off the coast of Taiwan and constitute a “rehearsal of the reunification operations” of the island to mainland China because the congresswoman changed the status quo in the area.

Zhang Junshe, an expert from the Army’s naval academy, said the high level, strategy and influence of the current maneuvers are evidence that the process to reintegrate the island once and for all has been accelerated.

mh/car/ymr