A Chinese military spokesperson on Thursday said the military exercises around the Taiwan Island are a strong deterrent to collusion between the United States and Taiwan region.

Expressing strong indignation and opposition towards Speaker of US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi’s visit to China’s Taiwan region, Tan Kefei, spokesperson of China’s Ministry of National Defense, said the Chinese armed forces will deliver what it says.

The Eastern Theater Command of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army has organized joint-service combat training exercises in the waters and airspace off the Taiwan Island, which include sea target assaults, strikes on land targets, and airspace control operations, as well as live firing of precision-guided munitions, according to Tan.

Tan said Chinese armed forces will resolutely defend the country’s national sovereignty and territorial integrity, and will never leave any room for any form of “Taiwan independence” activities and external interference.

The PLA conducted a long-range strike exercise on Thursday afternoon that bombarded a designated area in eastern parts of the Taiwan Straits.

The live-fire exercise took place at around 1 pm and was carried out by the ground force of the PLA Eastern Theater Command, the command said in a news release.

Senior Colonel Shi Yi, spokesman for the PLA Eastern Theater Command, said the force fired several ballistic missiles into waters to the east of Taiwan, with all of them hitting targets accurately.

He said that rocket forces in multiple locations on the mainland launched several types of missiles carrying conventional warheads to designated waters off the eastern coast of Taiwan.

The drills tested the rocket forces’ capabilities to conduct precision attacks and area-denial tasks, he noted, adding that the missile test operations had concluded and related airspace and waters had been reopened to civilian use.

Information about previous PLA Ground Force exercises in the straits shows that long-range artillery units equipped with multiple rocket launchers would usually be involved in such events.

The PLA Eastern Theater Command has been conducting a series of joint operations in the air and waters surrounding Taiwan since Tuesday night.

According to the military, the PLA will perform long-range artillery strikes and ballistic missile launches to target areas around Taiwan in the coming days.

The PLA made the announcement on Thursday afternoon but provided no details.