China has said it will stage military exercises in the East China Sea near Taiwan this week, with relations tense between Beijing and the self-ruled island.

Ships will be prohibited from entering the waters off the coast of China’s eastern Zhejiang province for 48 hours starting 6:00 pm (1000 GMT) on Tuesday because of the military exercises, the Zhejiang Maritime Safety Administration said in a brief notice on Monday.

It did not offer details on the scale of the exercises or which military units were involved.

State-backed newspaper Global Times called it a “live-fire drill”.

The People’s Liberation Army held two large military drills close to the Taiwan Strait in late July.

This will be the third set of drills in a month and comes after the recent US approvals of arms sales worth billions to Taiwan, including F-16 fighter jets.

Ties between Beijing and Taipei have plummeted since President Tsai Ing-wen came to power in 2016 because her party refuses to recognize the idea that Taiwan is part of “One China”.

Source: AFP