Written by 
The People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) stronger emphasis on nighttime training signals readiness for “surprises”, including in a possible war scenario over Taiwan, military experts say.
Beijing’s most senior uniformed military official, Zhang Youxia, oversaw the latest such drills, which were held earlier this week in Hebei, a province bordering the capital.
Zhang is first-ranked vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission, led by President Xi Jinping. He is also a member of the Politburo, Beijing’s top decision-making body.
He inspected live-fire drills during a three-day “combined military operation” that started last Sunday, according to state news agency Xinhua.
This came less than a week after the latest large-scale PLA drills around Taiwan, a 13-hour exercise dubbed Joint-Sword 2024B that began before sunrise on October 14.