The sun sets over Taiwan's southeastern coast of Fujian, as seen on September 11, 2004 from China's frontline island of Kinmen in Taiwan. Beijing, Oct. 11 Reuters : On Monday it said it had carried out beach landing and assault drills in the province directly across the Sea from Taipei, but did not link the exercises to current tensions with Taiwan.
China, claimed as Taiwan's own territory, has complained of stepped-up military and political pressure from Beijing to force it to accept Chinese rule including massed air force incursions into Taiwan's air defence identification zone. The official People's Liberation Army Daily newspaper, in a brief report on its Weibo microblogging account, said drills had been carried out in recent days in the southern part of Fujian province.
The action included shot troops, sappers and boat specialists, the Chinese military newspaper added. The troops were grouped into multiple waves to divest from the beach and perform combat tasks at different stages it added, without providing further details.
It showed a video of soldiers in small boats travelling through sand, torpedoing on a beach, throwing smoke grenades, breaking barbed wire defenses and digging trenches in the sand.
The drills appeared to involve a small number of troops.
The weather was calm and the seas were clear - suggesting the drill did not occur on Monday as southern Fujian is currently being affected by a tropical storm passing between Taiwan and the Philippines.
According to the geographical proximity, Fujian would be a key launch site for any Chinese invasion of Taiwan.
The South China SeaChina Sea routinely conducts military exercises up and down its coast as well as in the disputed South China SeaChina Sea.
China has denounced what it calls coercive tactics against Taiwan and says it will defend itself if attacked.
Over the weekend, the Chinese President Tsai Ing-wen repeated his vow to unitedify Taiwan and Taiwan's President Xi Jinping said Taiwan will not be forced to bow to China.