TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Just hours before a delegation sent by United States President Joe Biden touched down in Taiwan Wednesday (April 14), China announced it was holding six days of live missile drills close to the Taiwan Strait.

The maneuvers will take place April 15-20 near Guangdong Province’s Nanpeng Islands, cable station TVBS reported.

The first day of the missile firings coincides with a meeting between retired Senator Chris Dodd as well as former Deputy Secretaries of State Richard Armitage and James Steinberg with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文). Their mission has been interpreted as a show of support by the Biden administration for Taiwan in the face of aggressive behavior by Beijing.

The announcement of the latest round of missile drills came at a sensitive moment just seven hours before the U.S. group arrived at Taipei Songshan Airport, TVBS reported.

Taiwan has seen incursions by Chinese military aircraft into its air defense identification zone (ADIZ) on an almost daily basis for months, while Beijing officials have issued threats against foreign diplomats and politicians planning to visit the country.