China announces military exercise against Taiwan — POLITICO — POLITICO

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BEIJING — China has announced it will conduct exercises of military nature on the coastline, in opposition to Taiwan after warning the Speaker Nancy Pelosi to scrap plans to visit the island state that Beijing declares as part of its territory.

The Communist Party’s military wings, known as the People’s Liberation Army, was conducting “live-fire exercises” close to Pingtan Island. Pingtan Islands off Fujian province between 8 a.m. until 9 p.m. The officially-official Xinhua News Agency said. In addition, the Maritime Safety Administration warned ships to stay clear of the region.

These types of exercises typically require artillery. The announcement contained only one sentence and did not provide any indication as to whether the Saturday exercise would also involve missiles, fighter planes , or other weapons.

China’s President Xi Jinping warned his U.S. counterpart, Joe Biden, in an interview on Thursday about “external interfering” in Beijing’s negotiations on the islands.

China claims that Taiwan is not able to conduct relations with foreign countries. The Chinese government sees visits by American officials as a way to encourage Taiwan to declare its de facto independence, which has been in place for decades, legal.

The Ministry of Defense warned Washington this week not to permit Pelosi Biden, who is biden’s equivalent in rank as head of one of the three branches of the government, to travel to Taiwan. A spokesperson for the PLA said that the PLA would take “strong steps” to stop all pro-independence efforts.

The PLA has increased the number of bombers and fighter planes close to Taiwan and in the past launched missiles into shipping routes to Taiwan.

Taiwan and China were divided in 1949 following the end of a civil war by a triumph of the communists across the Chinese mainland.

The two governments claim they are one nation however they disagree on who should be the national leader. They do not have official relations however they are connected by billions of dollars of investment and trade.