Taiwan military holds drills near Chinese coast
SHOWS:
STORY: Soldiers fired shells at a floating red cross in the water, meant to represent advancing enemy forces. The echoes of machine guns and cannon fire reverberated around the coastline.
Although the defense ministry says the exercises on Dongyin, part of the Taiwan-controlled Matsu archipelago off the coast of China's Fuzhou, are routine, they are happening as Taipei has raised its alert level after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, wary of Beijing making a similar move.
Taiwan has not reported any unusual activities by Beijing since the Ukraine war began. On Feb. 5 a small, propeller-driven Chinese aircraft flew very close to Dongyin. Taiwan said they suspected China was deploying a civilian aircraft to test the responses of its military.
Taiwan does not publish details of its military presence there, but the Dongyin Area Command has been at the front line of Taiwan's defenses since the 1950s.
