China launched DF-17 hypersonic missile 120km off Taiwan.

On July 31, one day before the 95th anniversary of the formation of the People's Liberation Army, the Chinese launched a Dongfeng-17 (DF-17) medium-range hypersonic missile, 120 km from Taiwan. A video has been published on Twitter.
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Dongfeng DF-17 hypersonic missiles (Picture source: Chinese MoD)

The Dongfeng-17 (East Wind-17) is a solid-fuelled road-mobile, medium-range ballistic missile that mounts the DF-ZF Hypersonic Glide Vehicle. The DF-17's hypersonic armament gives China significant leverage over current conventional ABMs due to the glide vehicle's unpredictable trajectory. The DF-17 along with the DF-ZF, was officially unveiled at the National Day military parade on 1 October 2019, making this China's first operational hypersonic weapon system and one of the world's first to be put in the full initial operation.

The DF-17 launch performed on July 31 appears as a warning to the U.S. amid raising tensions because of the planned stop-over of U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in Taiwan. The Chinese Foreign Ministry and the People's Liberation Army (PLA) are keeping up the pressure on the US over Nancy Pelosi's potential visit to the island of Taiwan, urging the US to honor President Joe Biden's promise to not support "Taiwan independence".

Both aircraft carriers of the Chinese Navy have reportedly moved out from their homeports. The aircraft carrier Liaoning on Sunday, July 31, embarked on a voyage from its homeport in Qingdao, East China's Shandong Province, and the aircraft carrier Shandong on Monday, August 1, set out from its homeport in Sanya, South China's Hainan Province, accompanied by a Type 075 amphibious assault ship, media on the island of Taiwan reported on Tuesday., August 2.

“Those who play with fire end up getting burned” and “I hope the American side fully understands this,” said Xi Jingpin during a telephone conversation with Joe Biden.