Taiwanese Army conduct live-fire exercises on Kinmen Islands

By Alimat Aliyeva

The Taiwanese Army is planning live-fire exercises on the Kinmen Islands on July 19-20, Azernews reports.

According to the notification of the Defense Ministry, the exercises will be held simultaneously in various areas of the Kinmen Archipelago. On July 19, from 09:00 to 17:00, shooting will be held on the islands of Houyu and Caoyu, in the waters between Dadan and Erdan Islands, as well as in the waters of the islands of Leyu, Shiyu, Fuxinyu and Dongding. The next day, live firing exercises will be held on Beidin Island.

These trainings will be held before the Hanguang maneuvers, which are the largest military exercises in Taiwan. They have been held annually since 1984. All types of the Armed forces (AF) take part in them. The practical part of the live firing exercises will take place from July 22 to 26. This year, the focus will be on working out scenarios for conducting unplanned combat operations, which will allow checking the combat readiness of the island's armed forces in various conditions.

The Kinmen Archipelago is located 187 km from Taiwan and only 10 km from the city of Xiamen (Fujian Province). Kinmen is controlled by the Armed Forces of Taiwan, the archipelago consists of about two dozen small islands with a total area of about 153 square kilometers. The distance between Erdan Island and mainland China is about 5 km.