BEIJING (Dispatches) - 
Chinese armed forces launched military exercises in five maritime areas in the Bohai Sea, Yellow Sea, East China Sea, South China Sea, and other waters on Monday, October 12.
 The drills follow Taiwan President Lai Ching-te’s National Day speech on October 10 and are scheduled to last five days. 
Defense Minister Wellington Koo said on Monday, October 12, that Taiwan’s armed forces have a grasp on the developments and have so far assessed that the impact on waters around Taiwan is limited. He said the exercises seem to all be air-defense artillery firing drills in coastal areas.
Koo said that the Defense Ministry follows the principle of assuming the worst, so it will continue to closely monitor China’s life-fire and military training activities. He added that China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) continuous unsettling exercises and military activities in the Indo-Pacific deserve attention and condemnation.
Starting from Thursday, the China Maritime Safety Administration announced no-sail notices for five areas, from the South China Sea up to the northeastern province of Liaoning, though none around Taiwan itself.
The closest one to Taiwan is off China’s eastern province of Zhejiang. The drills are scheduled to last all week, according to the notices.
“The People’s Liberation Army’s regular training and exercises around Taiwan are meant to deter reckless ‘Taiwan independence’ moves and outside interference, and to safeguard the security and well-being of the Taiwanese people. This is entirely justified,” it said.
China’s military operates around Taiwan on an almost daily basis, though it has not held full war games since late December, which were in response to an $11 billion arms sale announced by Washington, the largest ever.
Last week, the U.S. State Department said China’s maritime actions off Taiwan’s east coast are “deeply destabilizing” and only worsen tension.
Speaking in Beijing on Monday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said those waters belonged to China and its activities there were “beyond reproach”.
“It has never been China that stirs up trouble and undermines stability in this sea,” she told reporters, without elaborating.
Lai says only Taiwan’s people can decide their future, and that Beijing has no right to claim the island as its territory.