The Chinese People's Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command Navy has organized carrier-based helicopter live-fire shooting and sea landing training.
According to a post by the Eastern Theater Command’s official Weibo account on the 24th, a navy unit from the Eastern Theater Command recently held live-fire shooting by carrier-based helicopters and shipboard landing training, closely adhering to realistic combat requirements, further honing the unit’s all-weather combat capabilities.
According to the website of China’s Maritime Safety Administration, the Zhangzhou Maritime Safety Administration issued a navigation warning on the 22nd, stating that on Thursday and Friday (July 24), from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., live-fire exercises would be conducted in parts of the Taiwan Strait, during which entry by ships is forbidden.
Rights Protection in the Taiwan Strait Has Entered a New Normal
State media pointed out that China’s various Taiwan-related activities are now unfolding on multiple fronts, including maritime regulatory control, maritime law enforcement, marine resource exploration, and military operations, indicating that rights protection in the Taiwan Strait is entering a new normal.
According to state media, this new normal does not refer to simply a few more patrols or drills, nor is it a one-off, hardline statement. Rather, China’s sovereignty protection and maritime governance regarding Taiwan are moving from isolated actions to systematic operations; from passive responses to proactive shaping; and from political declarations to concrete implementation. First and foremost, the core change is the normalization of administrative law enforcement, including the China Coast Guard routinely conducting law enforcement patrols to the east of the island of Taiwan. Military deterrence is also becoming normalized, public, and rule-based. Only when the demonstration of capability becomes concrete will the adventurism of “Taiwan independence” and external forces be restrained. A third, deeper change is the normalization of resource and near-sea governance. As work in various fields enters normalization, the new reality in the Taiwan Strait is becoming clear: it is no longer a gray area where anyone can come and go as they please, nor a stage where “Taiwan independence” separatist forces and foreign interference can act indefinitely. The order and boundaries here will be defined and drawn by China, and in the future, it will inevitably return to the overall framework of China’s reunification.
Mainland Holds Live-Fire Shooting in the Taiwan Strait; MAC: Little Impact on Taiwan
Liang Wen-chieh, spokesperson for Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council (MAC), said at a routine press conference on the 23rd, citing Maritime and Port Bureau information, that the live-fire exercise currently has little impact on Taiwan. The Ministry of National Defense and Coast Guard Administration will monitor the situation throughout.
Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a press statement on the same day condemning the Chinese mainland for conducting live-fire shootings in some areas of the Taiwan Strait for two consecutive days, and called on the mainland to immediately cease such military provocations.