China¡¯s military said it had ¡°successfully completed¡± three days of military drills around Taiwan on Monday, with air and sea blockade training involving an aircraft carrier and simulated strikes by warplanes carrying live ammunition under ¡°actual combat conditions.¡±
The ¡°Joint Sword¡± drills ¡ª which began just days after Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen¡¯s landmark meeting with U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in California ¡ª had been characterized by China as ¡°a serious warning against the Taiwan independence separatist forces¡¯ collusion and provocation with external forces,¡± a thinly veiled reference to the U.S.
Beijing views Taiwan as a ¡°core issue¡± and calls the democratic island a renegade province that must be unified with the mainland ¡ª by force, if necessary.
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