Taiwan holds live-fire military drills on islands close to China

Taiwan held live-fire drills Wednesday on two of its islands not far from mainland China, part of a series of exercises to be held to boost combat readiness.

Media sources said more military drills are being planned this month by the Taiwanese military, including at the Pratas islands (also known as Dongsha) in the South China Sea.

According to the Taiwanese Ministry of National Defense, live-fire drills took place at dawn in Dongyin and Penghu – two of Taiwan’s outlying islets very close to mainland China.

Dongyin is part of the Matsu archipelago, 50 kilometers (30 miles) east of China’s Fujian province. It is about 185 kilometers (115 miles) northwest of Taiwan mainland.

The Matsu islands have been under Taiwan’s control since the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949.

Dongyin is Taiwan’s northernmost point and the “most strategically important outlying island,” according to Sheu Jyh-Shyang, a military expert at the Taiwan’s Institute for National Defence and Security Research.

The island, despite being open to tourists, is heavily fortified with cruise missiles including Taiwan’s homegrown Hsiung Feng II anti-ship missiles and Sky Bow II surface-to-air anti-ballistic missiles.