Taiwan readies its army to counter military exercises by China

China completed its largest-ever military exercises around Taiwan. It is now the turn of Taiwan to conduct its live-fire drill. Beijing repeated threats to bring the self-ruled democracy of Taiwan under its control. Recently, US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan. That did not go down well with Beijing, they staged air, and sea drills in the region. Such an exercise increased tension to their highest level in years. Taiwan accused China of using the visit as an excuse to carry out military drills. That could be a rehearsal for an invasion. Taiwan, on its part, fired howitzers and target flares as part of the defensive drill. It took place in the country’s southernmost county and lasted about an hour. Taiwan holds military drill after China says war preps will continue. The military said its exercises were already scheduled and there was no link to China's war games.

Taiwan explained that these were annual affairs. The main purpose was primarily to ascertain proper condition of the artillery and their maintenance condition. The second was to confirm the results of previous year. China had said it had "successfully completed various tasks" in the Taiwan Strait and vowed to continue patrolling its waters and be prepared for war. China last issued a white paper on Taiwan in 2000. It had proposed the "one country, two systems" model similar to Hong Kong and Macau that were promised a degree of autonomy under Chinese rule. However, this is not acceptable to Taiwan. It has created a separate identity for itself and transformed from an autocracy into a vibrant democracy.

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