A rare combined military exercise -- involving various army branches conducting simulated landings and attacks -- will be launched in the middle of the month along the coasts of three provinces, according to Monday's Wen Wei Po.
The exercises will be held at Dongshan and Pingtan (Fujian Province), Zhoushan (Zhejiang Province) and other islands along Shantou in Guangdong Province.
The strategic target of the exercises is Taiwan Island, military insiders said.
The People's Liberation Army's (PLA) annual exercises, which usually involve only one branch, started in April this year along the mainland's southeast coast. They are expected to continue till October, according to military insiders.
There have been signs of the impending exercise in the past few months:
Residents in Fujian Province said they had witnessed naval formations and railways transporting soldiers.
Civil flight routes along Fujian's coast were altered from time to time by military control.
A "martial law" exercise was conducted at the military ports of Ningde and Xiamen of Fujian Province; Shantou, Guangzhou and Huangpu of Guangdong Province; and Zhoushan and Dinghai of Zhejiang Province.
Advanced military fighters from the Guangzhou Military Command one day flew sorties across several military regions in a coordinated exercise.
Armies from the Nanjing Military Command, Guangzhou Military Command, Jinan Military Command, Beijing Military Command and Shenyang Military Command are involved in the exercise, according to the military sources.
It is also reported that militias in Quanzhou of Fujian Province and Huizhou of Guangdong Province are being mobilized to take part in the exercise. Their role is to support military landings on a large scale.
(China Daily August 5, 2002 )
|
