missiles hit targets accurately

The People's Liberation Army fired several ballistic missiles into waters to the east of Taiwan on Thursday afternoon, with all of them hitting targets accurately, according to a military spokesman.

Senior Colonel Shi Yi, spokesman for the PLA Eastern Theater Command, said that rocket forces in multiple locations on the mainland launched several types of missiles carrying conventional warheads to designated waters off the eastern coast of Taiwan.The drills tested the rocket forces' capabilities to conduct precision attacks and area-denial tasks, he noted, adding that the missile test operations had concluded and related airspace and waters had been reopened to civilian use.

Meng Xiangqing, a professor at the PLA National Defense University, said the PLA's military operations around Taiwan are "groundbreaking, powerful, effective and targeted" as shown in their widest-ever range and closest-ever proximity to Taiwan.

"The six exercise zones,which are much closer to the island compared with previous PLA exercises near Taiwan, would establish a circle of blockade and deterrence," he said, noting that joint besieging maneuvers will take place during the exercises.

"The zone to the northwest of Taiwan is located in the center of the narrowest part of the Taiwan Straits, while the zones to the east and southwest of Taiwan face Hualien, Taitung and Kaohsiung, which are home to the island's major military bases. Those can be very effective deterrence," Meng said."

The other zones also can obviously blockade key locations — the two zones in the northeast are near the key Keelung port and the one in the south lies in the entrance to the Bashi Channel."