On Tuesday, Taiwan’s army began an artillery drill with live ammunition simulating the island’s defense against a Chinese attack, following large-scale military maneuvers near Beijing, an Agence France Presse correspondent on the ground found, cited by Agerpres.

Lu Woei-ji, a spokesman for Taiwan’s 8th Army Corps, confirmed that the exercise began in Pingdong County (South) shortly after 00:40 GMT with light rocket and artillery fire.

The exercise, the second scheduled for Thursday, will involve the deployment of several hundred soldiers and about 40 howitzers, the army said.

China began its biggest military maneuvers around Taiwan last week in response to a visit by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the highest-ranking US official to visit the self-ruled island in decades.

China considers Taiwan, which has a population of about 23 million, as one of its provinces, which it has not yet succeeded in reuniting with the rest of its territory since the end of the Chinese Civil War (1949).

Lu Wei-jhe said on Monday that Taiwan’s exercises are already planned and are not a response to the ongoing Chinese exercises.

The island regularly conducts military exercises simulating a Chinese invasion and last month practiced repelling attacks from the sea in a “joint interception operation” as part of its biggest annual drills.