China conducts live-fire drills in Yellow Sea after Taiwan Strait

China conducted live-fire artillery drills in the Yellow Sea after carrying out military drills surrounding Taiwan. Pundits says Beijing’s military responses are now targeting South Korea and the U.S.

The Chinese naval bureau said Saturday, “China will conduct live-fire artillery drills around the Shandong Peninsula between August 6 and 15, and certain waters in the Bay of Bohai in the north of the Liaodong Peninsula between August 8 and September 8. We ban entry of vessels into the training sites during these periods.” The training sites are found to include areas near Lianyungang City in Jiangsu Province, and waters near Dalian City in the Bay of Bohai. The schedule for China’s drills coincides with South Korea-U.S. joint military drills that will start on August 22 and South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin’s first visit to China on Monday. Lianyungang City where live-fire artillery drills will be conducted is only three-hour drive from Qingdao where Minister Park will visit. Park is scheduled to hold a meeting with Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Tuesday.

Military standoff between Washington and Beijing over Taiwan is spreading to other Asian regions that are involved in territorial dispute with China.

Quoting a ranking Indian official, CNN reported Saturday that the U.S. and India will conduct a joint military drill in mid-October in Auri in the province of Uttarakhand, an Indian border region with China. China and India had military skirmishes in the Himalayan border region in 2020, which left more than 20 Indian soldiers killed, as the two countries continue to be involved in territorial dispute.

China said it would complete its exercise surrounding Taiwan on Sunday, but Beijing said on Sunday noon that it would conduct live-fire joint drills in waters around and skies over Taiwan. The Taiwanese Defense Ministry said the Chinese military conducted a mock invasion drill against Taiwan by mobilizing its military aircraft and warships. “Chinese warships and unmanned aerial vehicles conducted mock attack drills against U.S. and Japanese warships, while moving from eastern coast of Taiwan to waters near the Japanese archipelago,” Reuters reported on Saturday.


Ki-Yong Kim kky@donga.com