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China regularly conducts military exercises, but rarely conducts multiple exercises at the same time.
China has started five military exercises simultaneously along different parts of its coast, the second time in two months that it will conduct simultaneous drills amid growing regional tensions.
A report by the Reuters news agency said on Monday that two of the exercises will take place near the Paracel Islands in the disputed South China Sea, one in the East China Sea and one further north in the Bohai Sea. the Maritime Safety Administration said in notices on its website.
In the southern part of the Yellow Sea, drills including live-fire exercises will be held Monday through Wednesday, he said in another notice, adding that all ships are prohibited from entering the area.
In an attempt to train a combat-ready army, China conducts such drills periodically, although it is rare for multiple exercises to be held at the same time.
The four separate exercises were announced last month, a rare arrangement, according to Chinese military experts.
In response, the United States sent spy planes to a no-fly zone during Chinese military drills with live fire while China made “tough representations” to Washington.
China and the US have recently been at odds on a variety of issues, from Taiwan and the coronavirus pandemic to trade and human rights.
On Sunday, a statement from the US State Department said that China has “pursued a reckless and provocative militarization” of the disputed outposts in the Spratly Islands of the South China Sea, adding that the ruling Communist Party of China “does not keep his words or commitments”.
In response, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said Monday that US military actions have made it “the greatest threat to the peace and stability of the South China Sea.”
China has also carried out frequent military activities near Taiwan, stating that the drills were directed at the island that Beijing considers part of its territory.
On Friday, Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said China threatened or entered its airspace 46 times in the past nine days.
Earlier this month, an Indonesian patrol boat engaged a Chinese coastguard vessel that spent nearly three days in waters that Indonesia claims as an exclusive economic zone and is near the southernmost part of the South China Sea.
The Philippines, Malaysia and Vietnam have also rejected Chinese claims and actions in the area, while progress in talks between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and China on the South China Sea appears to be stalled.
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