Pentagon sources say China intensifying military exercises

March 13, 1996
Web posted at: 10:10 p.m. EST (0310 GMT)

TAIPEI, Taiwan (CNN) -- U.S. defense sources said up to 150 Chinese planes and 15 to 20 ships participated in "live-fire" exercises in the strait of Taiwan Wednesday.

They said the next phase could be an amphibious mock-assault on a coastal island.

China has fired four missiles into waters off Taiwan since Friday. Chinese officials have acknowledged that the exercises are aimed at discouraging an independence movement in Taiwan ahead of its March 23 presidential election.

Warplanes of the U.S. aircraft carrier USS Independence, which is stationed off Taiwan's eastern coast, have been staging 90-minute patrols in the area.

Though no one is predicting war will break out, Taiwan wasn't taking chances and was already preparing emergency shelters and refurbishing a series of tunnels built by the Japanese in 1940 that could be used if Taipei comes under military attack.

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