China’s drills near Taiwan a ‘war like’ escalation from exercises last year
over 2 years in The guardian
Biggest show of force since August was more targeted and showed intent to annex island, say analystsChina’s recent military drills near Taiwan were a substantive and “war-like” escalation on those conducted last August despite not including any missile launches, some analysts have said.The drills were launched in retaliation to Taiwan’s president, Tsai Ing-wen, traveling to the US and meeting the US house speaker, Kevin McCarthy. Beijing, which claims Taiwan as a province despite that being rejected by its government and people, declared the meeting a provocation by Taiwan “separatists”, enabled by the US. Continue reading...