Taiwan Downplays Chinese Military Exercises

Drill meant to send a message to the democratic island China still considers a breakaway province

BEIJING—China’s military conducted live-fire exercises in coastal waters opposite Taiwan, trying to send a message to the democratic island whose Defense Ministry dismissed the drill as small-scale intimidation.

The exercise, which began Wednesday, involved a battleship, multiple other warships and air-defense operations, as well as the deployment of rockets, artillery, bombs and torpedoes, according to Hong Yuan, an expert in military affairs at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

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