Taiwan claims China's rocket launch sent debris into sea

Taipei: China claimed to have launched a satellite into orbit on Sunday, and Taiwanese authorities claimed that rocket debris had landed in the sea, where Beijing had this week declared a no-sail zone, reported AFP. Due to “possible falling rocket wreckage,” maritime authorities in China’s eastern Fujian province restricted ships from an area north of Taiwan from 9:00 am (0100 GMT) until 3:00 pm (0700 GMT) on Sunday. Taiwan’s transport ministry said, according to AFP, Beijing planned to restrict aircraft from entering the zone, which is crisscrossed by a variety of international routes, for roughly half an hour beginning at 9:30 am, though Chinese authorities later disputed the assertion as false. The announcements came days after Beijing declared an end to large-scale military drills around Taiwan carried out as a furious response to its leader Tsai Ing-wen’s recent visit to the United States. Chinese state media on Sunday announced the successful launch of a “new meteorological satellite” from a space centre in northwestern China at 9:36 am. Footage released by state broadcaster CCTV showed a white rocket blasting off into clear skies from the launch centre in arid Gansu province, leaving a plume of smoke and dust in its wake. Taipei’s defence ministry said the satellite’s orbit “passed over the seas off (the) northern coast of Taiwan” and that “some rocket wreckage fell into the warning area”. “The military has used joint intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance measures to monitor the situation of the rocket launch,” the ministry said. The debris “did not affect our homeland security”, it added. Beijing’s Xinhua news agency reported that the launch of the Long March 4B rocket had carried the Fengyun-3 07 satellite “into its preset orbit”. The satellite “will provide services for weather forecasting, disaster prevention and mitigation, climate change response and ecological conservation”, according to Xinhua. Military drills China views Taiwan as part of its territory and has vowed to bring the self-ruled island under its control one day – by force if need be. Beijing this month held three days of “Joint Sword” military manoeuvres after Tsai travelled to the US – Taipei’s main security backer – for meetings with a bipartisan group of lawmakers including House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. China’s People’s Liberation Army said the exercises simulated targeted strikes on Taiwan and an encirclement that would have effectively “sealed” it off. According to the PLA’s Eastern Command, the exercises “completely tested the integrated joint combat capability of multiple military branches under actual combat conditions.” They were also supposed to include live-fire training in a restricted region off the coast of Fujian, roughly 80 kilometres (50 miles) south of Taiwan’s governed Matsu islands, but it is unclear whether those drills took place, reported AFP. With inputs from agencies Read all the Latest News , Trending News , Cricket News , Bollywood News , India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.