PLA begins large-scale drill around Taiwan Island

陈小将

The People's Liberation Army has unfolded a large-scale live-fire exercise surrounding the Taiwan Island, involving its ground, air, naval, and missile forces.

During the exercise named "Justice Mission 2025" that began on Monday morning, the PLA Eastern Theater Command mobilized fighter jets, bombers, and drones, which were flying over the central parts of the Taiwan Strait, to cooperate with long-range rocket launchers on the ground to simulate precision strikes against mobile land-based targets.

Meanwhile, another group of destroyers, frigates, fighters, and bombers conducted drills in the waters and airspace to the east of the Taiwan Strait, attacking simulated targets in the air and at sea.

To the north and southwest of the Taiwan Strait, warships, strike planes, drones, and long-range firepower units practiced tracking and eliminating hostile targets and used live ammunition to hit simulated targets at sea.

In a video clip published by the Eastern Theater Command, some of the PLA's best types of hardware have been deployed in the exercise, such as the J-20 stealth fighter and the DF-17 hypersonic ballistic missile launcher.

According to Senior Colonel Shi Yi, spokesman for the command, the exercise is a stern warning against "Taiwan independence" separatists and external forces attempting to interfere in the Taiwan question and is a legitimate and necessary action to safeguard China's sovereignty and national unity.