China announced plans Thursday to hold live-fire naval drills next week in the narrow strait separating the mainland from Taiwan, an act that could ratchet up tensions with the island. "Live-fire military manoeuvres will take place... in the Taiwan Strait on (Wednesday) April 18, 2018 between 8am and midnight," the maritime safety administration of Fujian, the province that lies opposite Taiwan, said in a statement.
China, which sees self-ruled Taiwan as its own territory, has stepped up air and naval patrols around the island since Beijing-sceptic President Tsai Ing-wen came to power in May 2016. She refuses publicly to accept the "One China" formula agreed between Beijing and Taiwan's previous government.
Chinese warplanes conducted 25 drills around Taiwan between August 2016 and mid-December last year, according to Taipei. Last month, Beijing flexed its military muscle again as its sole operational aircraft carrier - the Liaoning - took part in a huge naval drill with dozens of other vessels in the South China Sea.
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