PLA carries out defence drills in Shenyang, Jinan and Sansha

The People's Liberation Army held a series of preparedness drills in Shenyang, Jinan and newly established Sansha in Hainan, the city created by Beijing to oversee disputed islands in the South China Sea.

The military drills on Wednesday were aimed at enhancing soldiers' combat consciousness and capabilities, the People's Liberation Army Daily reported.

It said soldiers from the South Sea Fleet stationed on Chenhang, in the Duncan Islands group in the Paracels, were woken by an air raid alarm that sounded at the island's airport at 4.30am. They dressed quickly and boarded warships in a few minutes, it said.

The Paracels, controlled by Beijing, are also claimed by Taipei and Vietnam.

Since Chenhang is one of the most important strategic islands near Sansha, the daily said, its garrison had been trained to remain vigilant at all time, especially during festival holidays. It said officers had deployed more troops on patrols.

Sansha has a permanent civilian population of about 1,000 but was given army divisions comprising at least 6,000 troops after it was upgraded to a prefectural-level city on June 21.