[ad_1]
Sirens sounded at 1.30pm (0530 GMT) for mandatory street evacuation drills, which effectively sealed off towns and cities including its capital, Taipei, for 30 minutes.
An “air raid alert” was sent out via text message asking people to evacuate to safety immediately.
“When you receive the text message, please pay attention to wordings such as ‘test’ and ‘train’ and keep calm,” Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen said in a reminder to the audience on Facebook about an hour before the exercise called Wan An.
China, which regards democratically-ruled Taiwan as its territory, has been conducting regular maneuvers around the island over the past three years, pressuring Taipei to accept Beijing’s claim to sovereignty despite the island’s vehement disapproval.
In Taipei’s bustling Ximending shopping district, some stores have closed their doors and police have been ordered
Pedestrians and vehicles including food delivery drivers on motorcycles to move to the side of the road and seek shelter.
Tourists with luggage were seen taking shelter in a subway station, some of them shocked and unsure of what had happened.
“I heard the siren and was worried, I don’t know what happened especially since we are foreigners in a foreign country,”
said Lee Jang Ho, a tourist from South Korea.
Among the various exercises conducted by the authorities in Taipei, some citizens were instructed to seek shelter in basement parking lots with their hands covering their eyes and ears while keeping their mouths open – to reduce the impact of the blast waves from the missiles.
The siren sounded after 30 minutes to give it all up. Other parts of Taiwan, where regular air raid drills are required by law, will also hold street evacuation drills this week.
Beijing has stepped up its warnings of a visit by the Vice President of Taiwan and the Taiwanese President to the United States
Frontrunner William Lai next month, while the top US diplomat in Taipei urged China not to take “provocative” measures in response to the brief crossings.
[ad_2]
