TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — China announced Tuesday (Aug. 17) it was conducting military drills on the sea and in the air southwest and southeast of Taiwan during the day.

Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense said it was fully aware of movements in the waters and air around the nation and that it was ready to respond to any eventualities, the Liberty Times reported.

A spokesman for the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Eastern Theater Command issued a news release about its plans for Tuesday, mentioning warships, anti-submarine aircraft, and fighter jets participating in exercises to improve their coordination.

The Chinese officer claimed the drills were necessary because Taiwan and the United States were guilty of “collusion” and “provocations” targeting “Chinese sovereignty.” They formed a serious response to “interference by outside forces” and to “provocations by Taiwan Independence forces,” according to the spokesman.

For more than a year, China’s military has been sending its airplanes into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ) on an almost daily basis as a means of intimidating the country. Most of the incursions targeted the area southwest of the main island, though details of Tuesday’s precise location of the PLA drills were not immediately available.