Xi has largely avoided public appearances and foreign travel over the past year, but bringing Taiwan under Beijing's control remains a priority for his administration as head of the ruling Communist Party and its military, the People's Liberation Army.
Taiwan’s newly elected president Lai Ching-te has been vociferously criticized by Beijing for rejecting its position that Tawian is a part of China.
The drills came four days after Taiwan celebrated the founding of its government on its National Day, when Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te said in a speech that China has no right to represent Taiwan and declared his commitment to "resist annexation or encroachment."
Taiwan was a Japanese colony before being unified with China at the end of World War II. It split away in 1949 when Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalists fled to the island as Mao Zedong’s Communists defeated them in a civil war and took power.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP