By J. Michael Cole
Why did CCTV show footage of PLA soldiers storming a computer-generated facsimile of Taiwan’s seat of government?
His back to us, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) soldier is seen running towards a building that bears a striking resemblance to the Japanese-built Presidential Office in Taipei. Following a collage of tanks and artillery firing rounds of ammunition, the scene switches back to infantry, which is seen approaching and eventually entering what is, presumably, the same building.
According to reports in Chinese media, those scenes, featured in a three-minute video clip aired on state-run CCTV on July 5, come from Series C of this year’s live-fire Stride 2015 Zhurihe (跨越-2015·朱日和C) military exercises, which commenced at the Zhurihe Training Base in Inner Mongolia last month.
Unnamed military experts cited in the reports inform us that the five-story structure, which is ostensibly computer generated, is of about the same height as the Presidential Office in Taipei, which has led to speculation that the object of this years Zhurihe’s exercise is to develop the skills necessary to resolve the “Taiwan issue” by force. The PLA Dailyreported on July 21 that the exercises aimed to practice “winning a battle to gain control of major urban stronghold.” Citing PLA brigade head Ding Chao (丁超), the PLA Daily reported that the C exercise simulated urban combat sites copied from real city environments.
Read the full story at The Diplomat