On the evening of 5 August, the Eastern Theater announced that more than 10 destroyer ships of the Eastern Theater Navy carried out joint sealing and control in the waters surrounding Taiwan Island on the same day, and continuously organized simulated land strikes, comprehensive offensive and defensive attacks, and joint anti-submarine drills day and night.
Subsequently, in the news broadcast on the evening of the 6th, the scene of the exercise showed that the PLA warships were close to the coastline of Taiwan Island, and the rolling mountains on the island and the buildings on the shore were visible to the naked eye. Many people are curious about a towering white tower-like building in the background. Taiwan's TVBS television station, Lianhe Bao and other analysis on the 6th said that this white tower-like building is suspected to be the chimney of hualien peace power plant.
On the evening of August 6, the domestic technology company Zhongke Shitong Hengqi released a satellite map taken by a foreign synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite at about 10 a.m. on August 5. According to the official Weibo account of Zhongke Shitongheng, according to the tracking of the multi-domain situation system, on August 5, our Nanjing warship was active in the waters near Hualien, and the straight-line distance from the chimney of hualien and peace-fired power plant was about 11.78 kilometers.
The People's Liberation Army Daily published photos of our ship arriving near The eastern coastline of Taiwan, the arrow location is suspected of being the Hualien Pinghe Thermal Power Station
Satellite map of synthetic aperture radar published by Zhongke Shitong Hengqi
Xinhua News Agency previously said in the report that photos at the scene showed that the PLA warship arrived at Taiwan Island, and the coastline of Taiwan Island was clearly visible to the naked eye. Between our warships and the island of Taiwan, there is only one old Taiwanese ship.
Taiwan's "Lafayette" class frigate "Xining" arrives at our warship off the coast of Taiwan Image source: News network
According to the Taiwan Media United News Network, the chimney visible in the background in the photos released by the People's Liberation Army is the chimney of hualien and peaceful thermal power plants. Local fishermen estimate from the photos that the PLA warship is only 16 nautical miles (30 kilometers) from the shore and is already very close.
The report quoted Lin Junji, director general of the Hualien County Fishery Association, who has been fishing here for more than 30 years, as saying that he was quite familiar with the terrain of the sea area, and as soon as he saw the photos, he knew that it was in the open sea north of the Qingshui Cliff in Xiulin Township.
Screenshot of Taiwan's "Lianhe Pao" report
It is worth mentioning that just after the Taiwan media published an article in the afternoon to "debunk the rumors," the news broadcast released a video of the arrival near Taiwan's coastline that night
Hualien Peace Power Plant does have a towering chimney building, the power plant said on its official website, the plant is located in The Peace Industrial Zone of Heping Village, Xiulin Township, Hualien County, designed with two 660,000 kilowatts of coal-fired thermal power generation units, the whole plant installation capacity of 1.32 million kilowatts. The power plant's chimney is 250 meters high, and the chimney is painted with a totem of Taiwan's ethnic minorities. The plant is also said to be the largest power plant in eastern Taiwan.
Photographed by local residents of Taiwan, one of the most important power stations in eastern Taiwan: Hualien Peace Power Plant
It is worth mentioning that 34 kilometers north of the Hualien Peace Power Plant is the most important military base of the Taiwan Navy in the eastern part of Taiwan Island, the Soviet Military Port where the 168th Fleet of the Taiwan Army is stationed. The sea area from the Port of Suao to the Peace Power Plant is not the six sea areas designated by the joint military operation. If our warship's sailing route is all the way south in eastern Taiwan, it proves that our warship first "arrived" at the Soviet-Australian military port of the Taiwan army, and then went south to the vicinity of Hualien.
Soviet Military Port
34 kilometers north of the Hualien Peace Power Plant is the most important military base of the Taiwan Navy in the eastern part of Taiwan Island, the Soviet military port of the Taiwan 168th Fleet
The distance of 11.78 kilometers means that our warship has entered the "12 nautical miles" range of Taiwan Island, which is of great concern to the Taiwan authorities, and the Taiwan authorities have always described this distance as the width of the so-called "territorial waters" of Taiwan. The Taiwan authorities did not deny or admit our army's movements, but only admitted on the afternoon of 6 August that the Taiwan military dispatched the "Jiyang-class" frigate "Lanyang" to conduct "tracking and surveillance."
Close-up view of the Taiwanese ship taken from our ship (Source: Xinhua News Agency)
With regard to our army's approach to the Taiwan Strait, some media in Taiwan speculated for no reason on the afternoon of the 6th that the "punch card" picture of our warship was "P's." Some Taiwan media quoted Hualien", citing "whale watchers" as "debunking rumors", saying that their whale watching industry was "busy with business" and "did not see a PLA warship" on August 5, thus concluding that this was a "picture from PS", and many pro-green media in Taiwan also called on Taiwan residents to "remain calm". In this regard, Zhongke Shitong Hengqi said on Weibo that this satellite photo directly refutes the rumors in the Taiwan media that the photos of the roundabout exercise released by our army are "P-map."
Screenshot of the official Weibo account of Zhongke Shitongheng
Regarding the significance of the exercise, Professor Meng Xiangqing of the National Defense University said in an interview with CCTV News: There are many differences between this exercise and training operation around Taiwan Island and the previous training operations aimed at "Taiwan independence" in the history of our army. There are three main features:
Approaching Taiwan Island, which has never been done before. In the past, we mainly went along the mainland, but this time we went directly around Taiwan Island, and even designated our target area east of Taiwan Island, which has a major deterrent effect on "Taiwan independence."
HeweiTai Island, which is also unprecedented. The six major areas set up tightly enclose Taiwan Island in the middle, and can not only jointly seal and control Taiwan Island, but also strike at "Taiwan independence" forces. The encirclement of Taiwan Island this time is like a chain, trapping "Taiwan independence" in the island to death.
Deter the intervention of external forces. Among the areas designated this time, the northern area is close to Okinawa, and the southern two areas guard the Bashi Strait, which can be jointly sealed. The Bashi Strait is a necessary place to enter and exit the South China Sea, so it has a direct deterrent effect on external forces.
Meng Xiangqing said that the effect of the exercise is, in the final analysis, to create conditions for the early realization of national reunification in the future, and at the same time to create a favorable strategic situation.
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