China conducts live fire combat drills in East China Sea

China has conducted live combat drills in the East China Sea, state news agency Xinhua reported late on Monday, the latest in a series of air and sea military exercises it has conducted over the past 10 days.

Xinhua said a Chinese aircraft formation, which included the Liaoning carrier and J-15 planes, conducted anti-aircraft and anti-submarine warfare training where they intercepted "enemy" jets, fired anti-air missiles from ships surrounding the carrier and dodged "enemy" submarines.

It did not specify where exactly the exercises took place.

The carrier formation has in the past 10 days carried out military exercises in the western Pacific, South China Sea and Taiwan Strait, which drew criticism from self-ruled Taiwan as amounting to "intimidation".

China claims self-ruled Taiwan as its sacred territory, under its "one China" policy, and Beijing has never renounced the use of force to bring what it sees as a wayward province under its control.