China has launched punishment drills around Taiwan in what it said was a response to separatist acts, sending up heavily armed warplanes and staging mock attacks as state media denounced newly inaugurated President Lai Ching-te.
Reports say the exercises, in the Taiwan Strait and around groups of Taiwan-controlled islands that sit next to the Chinese coast, come just three days after Lai took office.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi called Lai “disgraceful”, as Lai repeatedly offered talks with China but was turned down. According to him, only Taiwan’s people can decide their future and reject Beijing’s sovereignty claims.