During exercises near Taiwan, the Chinese armed forces deployed the aircraft carrier Shandong to practice strikes against sea and land targets, Shi Yi, an official representative of the Eastern Zone of the Combat Command of the People’s Liberation Army of China (PLA) said.
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“April 2, the Eastern Zone of the PLA Combat Command deployed an aircraft carrier group led by the aircraft carrier Shandong to Conducting exercises in the airspace and sea to the east of Taiwan Island, during which, together with the naval and air forces, elements such as interaction between ships and aircraft, establishing control over airspace, as well as striking naval and ground targets were worked out,” Shi Yi said in a statement on the WeChat social network.
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Shi Yi said on Tuesday that the People’s Liberation Army of China began comprehensive military exercises around Taiwan on April 1 with the participation of various types of troops to practice blocking key areas and routes, attacking sea and land targets and to test real combat capabilities.
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On Wednesday, Shi Yi also announced that on April 2, command units are conducting exercises called Strait Thunder 2025A in the central and southern zones of the Taiwan Strait. According to him, the exercises are focused on working out the tasks of identifying and verifying targets, issuing warnings and displacing, intercepting and detaining in order to test the ability of troops to ensure regional control, conduct a joint blockade and launch pinpoint strikes on key targets.
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The situation around Taiwan escalated after a visit to the island in early August 2022 by Nancy Pelosi, then Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. China, which considers the island part of its territory, condemned Pelosi’s visit, regarding it as the United States’ support for Taiwanese separatism, and conducted large-scale military exercises.
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Official relations between the central government of China and its island province were interrupted in 1949 after the Kuomintang forces led by Chiang Kai-shek, who were defeated in the civil war with the Communist Party of China, moved to Taiwan.
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Business and informal contacts between the island and mainland China resumed in the late 1980s. Since the early 1990s, the parties have been in contact through non-governmental organizations such as the Beijing Association for the Development of Ties between the Two Sides of the Taiwan Strait (APC) and the Taipei Taiwan Strait Exchange Foundation (TFA).
