Beijing launched a two-day live-fire drill in the Taiwan Strait on Thursday, coinciding with the end of a fisheries resources survey east of Taiwan and soon after Beijing labelled a speech by Taiwan’s leader as reckless and provocative.The drill will run from 6am to 6pm on Thursday and Friday, according to a navigation warning issued by Beijing’s maritime safety administration on Wednesday.It comes days after Taiwanese leader William Lai Ching-te said Taiwan was “not subordinate to the People’s Republic of China” and that the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) would never allow a “democratic Taiwan” to regress into “China Taiwan” – comments that drew strong criticism from Beijing.02:01China calls nuclear submarine missile test ‘routine’ as Australia, Japan voice concernsIn Lai’s speech at the DPP annual convention on Sunday, he called on party members to oppose the “red terror” coming from Beijing.On Wednesday, Zhang Han, spokeswoman for Beijing’s Taiwan Affairs Office, said Lai’s remarks “exposed his unchanging ‘Taiwan independence’ stance” and that his latest speech “recklessly challenged the one-China principle”.Based on the coordinates provided by the maritime safety administration, the drill on Thursday covers an area bounded by five points in waters to the east and south of Dongshan Island, which is part of Zhangzhou in Fujian province.The drill extends into waters east of Dongshan Island towards the Taiwan Strait, with all drill zones within 12km (7.4 miles) of the mainland coast.On Friday, the drill will be conducted in a rectangular nearshore maritime zone south of Dongshan Island and closer to the Dongshan coastline. The two areas partially overlap, based on the coordinates.