CHINA-PLA: PLA CARRIES OUT AMPHIBIOUS AND BEACH LANDING EXERCISES ON SOUTHERN FUJIAN COAST
Reuters reported (October 11) that the PLA had carried out beach landing and assault drills in the
province directly across the sea from Taiwan. It said that in a brief report on its Weibo
microblogging account, the official People's Liberation Army Daily newspaper said the drills had
been carried out "in recent days" in the southern part of Fujian province. The PLA Daily added that
the action had involved "shock" troops, sappers and boat specialists. Troops were "divided into
multiple waves to grab the beach and perform combat tasks at different stages". It provided no
further details. It showed a video of soldiers in small boats storming a beach, throwing smoke
grenades, breaking through barbed wire defenses and digging trenches in the sand. The drills
appeared to involve a small number of troops.
(Comment: China routinely carries out military exercises up and down its coast as well as in the
disputed South China Sea.)
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