China has begun its announced military maneuvers near Taiwan, according to Chinese state television.
"The exercises are beginning," the broadcaster CCTV said Thursday on the online network Weibo.
China is reacting to a visit to Taiwan by US top politician Nancy Pelosi on Tuesday and Wednesday with maneuvers in the waters around Taiwan.
According to state media, the ongoing Chinese maneuvers around Taiwan are aimed at a naval and air blockade of the democratic island republic.
A possible conquest of Taiwan is also being practiced with it.
The military drills, which will include missile tests and target practice, were ordered by the People's Liberation Army in response to US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan.
The maneuvers, which are scheduled to last through Sunday, will take place in six sea areas around Taiwan.
For the first time, the restricted areas also extend to Taiwan's sovereign waters, which Beijing does not recognize anyway.
In the state media, Chinese military experts did not rule out that rockets could also be fired directly over Taiwan from west to east for the first time.
Flares used against missiles
Taiwan had previously used flares to disperse unidentified Chinese missiles over the Kinmen Islands, according to the Defense Ministry.
Two Chinese aircraft, likely drones, entered the area twice on Wednesday evening, around 9 p.m. and 10 p.m. local time, Maj. Gen. Chang Zone-sung of the Kinmen Defense Command told Reuters on Thursday.
“We immediately set off flares to warn and drive them away.
After that they turned back.
They came into our security zone, so we expelled them.” He assumes that the drones were used to gather information about Taiwan's security measures.
The heavily fortified Kinmen Islands are politically part of Taiwan, but lie just off China's southeastern coast near the city of Xiamen.