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China Plans Taiwan Strait Live-Fire Exercises

by Associated Press

   BEIJING --

   China announced it will hold live-fire military exercises in the Taiwan
   Strait amid heightened tensions over increased American support for
   Taiwan's government.

   The announcement coincided with President Xi Jinping speaking on the
   importance of Chinese naval power while attending a massive fleet
   review Thursday in the South China Sea off the coast of Hainan
   province.

   "The mission of building a mighty people's navy has never been more
   urgent than it is today," Xi, dressed in army fatigues, said in remarks
   on the helicopter deck of one of China's most advanced destroyers.
   "Strive to make the people's navy a first-rate world navy."

   State media said the fleet review included 48 ships, among them China's
   sole operating aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, along with 76
   helicopters, fighter jets and bombers, and more than 10,000 personnel,
   making it the largest since the founding of the People's Republic of
   China in 1949.

   Three days of exercises cut short

   The navy began three days of exercises off Hainan on Wednesday, but
   ended them a day early on Thursday, the provincial maritime safety
   administration said.

   No explanation was given for the curtailment of the drills or the
   Taiwan Strait exercise, and the Defense Ministry did not immediately
   respond to questions. The maritime safety authority in the coastal
   province of Fujian said the one-day Taiwan Strait drill will be held
   next Wednesday.

   Taiwan's defense ministry responded with a statement saying the
   exercises appeared to be part of scheduled annual drills, and that they
   were closely monitoring the situation and fully capable of responding.

   "Citizens please feel at ease," the statement said.

   Taiwan Travel Act

   While Beijing responded mildly to President Donald Trump's early
   outreach to Taiwan's independence-leaning government, recent
   developments have prompted a tougher response. China claims Taiwan as
   its own territory and says the sides, which separated during the
   Chinese civil war in 1949, must eventually be united, by force if
   necessary.

   Despite a lack of formal ties, Washington is legally bound to respond
   to threats to Taiwan and is the island's main supplier of foreign
   military hardware.

   Chinese officials have denounced the recent passage of a U.S. law
   encouraging more high-level contacts with Taiwan. China says the Taiwan
   Travel Act violates U.S. commitments not to restore formal exchanges
   severed when Washington switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei to
   Beijing in 1979.

   An agreement to provide Taiwan with submarine manufacturing technology
   and the appointment of hawkish National Security Adviser John Bolton
   have also hardened views among anti-American nationalists in China.

   Beijing's Taiwan Affairs Office on Wednesday warned against additional
   moves to strengthen relations with Taiwan.

   "Any attempt to play the 'Taiwan card' would only be futile," spokesman
   Ma Xiaoguang said. China, Ma said, would "not hesitate to protect our
   core interests."

   'Every inch' of China

   Last month, President Xi delivered a strongly nationalistic speech in
   which he vowed to protect "every inch" of China's territory. "All acts
   and tricks to split the motherland are doomed to failure and will be
   condemned by the people and punished by history!" Xi said.

   China has also stepped up air force missions around Taiwan and has
   repeatedly sailed the Liaoning through the 160-kilometer (100-mile)
   -wide Taiwan Strait.

   The just-completed naval drills off Hainan underscored China's growing
   capabilities in defending its maritime interests and territorial
   claims, particularly in the South China Sea, which it claims virtually
   in its entirety. An estimated $5 trillion in global trade passes
   through the waterway annually, and China has constructed airstrips and
   other installations on artificial islands to enlarge its military
   footprint.

   The drills near Hainan follow recent ones in the sea that featured the
   Liaoning, amid deployments and drills by the rival U.S. Navy.

   China is building new vessels at a rapid pace to equip its navy, coast
   guard and maritime law enforcement agencies, including its first
   entirely domestically built aircraft carrier.

   Hainan is home to a major military presence, including naval air
   stations and the country's largest submarine base.

   This week it also hosted a global business forum that included a
   smattering of world leaders, among them Philippine President Rodrigo
   Duterte, whose country is a U.S. treaty ally and has overlapping claims
   with Beijing in the South China Sea.