Taiwan to launch missile live-firing test amid China tensions

Taiwan is set to conduct a two-day missile live-firing test on Monday as part of its preparations ahead of its largest annual military exercises as the island ramps up preparations against an increasingly aggressive China. 

The missile firings in southern Pingtung county come as relations between Taipei and Beijing are increasingly strained, with China conducting two major military exercises around the island in the past year. 

The 23 million Taiwanese people live under constant threat of invasion by Beijing, which views the self-ruled democracy as part of its territory to be seized one day.

In May, China's Shandong aircraft carrier group sailed through the Taiwan Strait in a rare voyage. 

Last month, eight Chinese warplanes approached Taiwan's contiguous zone. These actions by Beijing come in response to President Tsai Ing-wen's meeting with US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy earlier this year.

Monday and Tuesday's missile tests come against the backdrop of aerial and naval manoeuvres by Beijing in and around the Taiwan Strait. The passage is a 180-kilometre-wide (122-mile-wide) passage between the island and mainland China.

Since the election of Tsai, who rejects China's claim to Taiwan, Beijing has refused to speak with her government. 

Relations have not fared better in the diplomatic sphere. Last week, Taiwan's immigration department announced it had rejected applications by Chinese tourism officials to visit the island for a mid-July international travel fair. 

The immigration agency cited the "overall cross-strait situation," stating that there were doubts about the "necessity, urgency, and irreplaceability" of the participation of Chinese tourism officials.