A PHL-03 long-range multiple launch rocket system (LRMLRS) attached to an artillery brigade under the PLA 74th Group Army fires rockets at simulate target during a night raid exercise in an undisclosed desert area of northwest China on July 28, 2021. (eng.chinamil.com.cn/Photo by Huang Hai)

 
The Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) launched large-scale military exercises surrounding the island of Taiwan on Thursday, starting with live-fire shooting of long-range rocket artillery into the designated areas in the eastern part of Taiwan Straits and test launches of conventional missiles to designated waters in the east of Taiwan island.

After the drills kicked off at 12:00 noon, the PLA Eastern Theater Command announced in a press release that the Army conducted long-range artillery live-fire shooting drills in the Taiwan Straits at about 1:00 pm, accurately striking specific targets in the eastern side of the Straits, and obtaining the expected outcome.

Video clips taken by netizens soon circulated on social media showing that long-range rockets were fired from Pingtan, East China's Fujian Province, only 125 kilometers away from the island of Taiwan.

Long-range rocket strikes could be one of the first moves in a potential reunification-by-force operation, as the low-cost weapons can be launched in mass numbers from the mainland across the Taiwan Straits to destroy hostile military facilities including air defense installations, radar systems, airfields, bases and command centers with precision, creating advantages for upcoming operations by PLA warplanes and warships, a Beijing-based military expert who requested anonymity told the Global Times on Thursday.

In the afternoon, the Rocket Force of the PLA Eastern Theater Command launched fire assaults with multiple types of conventional missiles at several designated sea areas to the east of Taiwan island, Senior Colonel Shi Yi, spokesperson of the PLA Eastern Theater Command, said in a statement.

This means that the missiles, likely fired from the Chinese mainland, have flown over the sky above the island of Taiwan, observers said.

All missiles accurately hit their targets, proving their precision strike and area denial capabilities and marking the success of the live-fire training mission, Shi said.

Area denial is a concept that describes denying external forces to interfere within a specific area. In this context, it means that the PLA's conventional missile launches practiced hitting foreign aircraft carriers that could intervene from the Philippine Sea in a possible reunification-by-force operation, experts said.

A number of PLA conventional missiles, including the DF-21, DF-26 and the hypersonic DF-17, can hit moving targets at sea, observers said.