20 May 2016

News Story: China holds landing drills ahead of Taiwan swearing-in

China's military has staged at least three landing exercises in the country's southeast this month, state-run media reported Wednesday ahead of the inauguration of Taiwan's Beijing-sceptic president-elect Tsai Ing-wen.

The operations appear to be Beijing's latest warnings to Tsai, chairwoman of the traditionally pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party, who will be sworn in on Friday and whose political message revolves around the importance of Taiwanese identity.

China and Taiwan split in 1949 after the Kuomintang nationalist forces lost a civil war to the Communists. But Beijing has always seen the island as a renegade province awaiting reunification, by force if necessary.

The largest and most recent of the drills was carried out by a regiment under the 31st Group Army, based in Fujian province opposite Taiwan, reported China Daily, the military's official mouthpiece.

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