China: Provocations, pressure will not stop military drills

This article is more than 12 months old

Jan 23, 2017 06:00 am

BEIJING: China's military will carry out drills regardless of foreign provocation and pressure, the Communist Party's paper said yesterday.

It added that exercises far out at sea, like those conducted recently by its sole aircraft carrier, will become normal.

China caused unease among some countries in the region last month when the carrier Liaoning, accompanied by several warships, cruised around self-ruled Taiwan and into the Pacific for what China called routine drills.

Earlier this month, Taiwan scrambled fighter jets and navy ships as the Liaoning then passed through the narrow waterway separating China from the island Beijing claims as its own.

The People's Daily said no amount of "word bombs" could stop China's military drills.

"These provocations, pressure, fantasies and over-exaggerations will not prevent the normal drills of the Chinese military," the paper said in a commentary. - REUTERS