Taiwan live-fire drills coincide with China exercises

Taiwan has concluded two days of live-fire drills coinciding with Chinese military exercises on the mainland coast facing the island, AP reported.

Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said the drills included testing 12 types of missiles with ranges of up to 250km (155 miles), long enough to reach targets in the mainland interior.

Ministry Deputy Chief of Staff Li Chao Ming said on Tuesday a total of 117 projectiles were fired with an accuracy rate of more than 95 percent, without identifying the missiles by name. Two of the air force’s F-16 fighter jets reportedly fired AGM-Harpoon missiles that hit a pair of decommissioned landing ships.

Beijing says it is holding four days of drills through Thursday along the coasts of Zhejiang and Fujian provinces.