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The Chinese military said it conducted a combat exercise focused on land strikes and sea attacks around Taiwan on Sunday, the second such exercise in less than a month.
The Eastern Theater Command of the People’s Liberation Army said in a statement late Sunday that its troops had organized “joint combat readiness patrols and actual combat drills” in the sea and airspace around Taiwan.
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The exercise is aimed at testing joint combat capabilities and “resolutely combating provocative actions by external forces and Taiwan independence separatist forces.”
There was no immediate response from Taiwan, which the Chinese government considers its territory.
China conducted a similar exercise late last month, and Taiwan reported that 43 Chinese aircraft had crossed the center line of the Taiwan Strait, the unofficial buffer zone between the two sides.
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China, which has never renounced the use of force to bring the island under its control, has been conducting regular military incursions into the sea and airspace near Taiwan for the past three years.
In August, China held military exercises near Taiwan after then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taipei.
Democratically governed Taiwan strongly opposes Beijing’s claims to sovereignty.
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