China war drills test ability to seize Taiwan

BEIJING (AFP) - Chinese warships and fighter jets surrounded Taiwan yesterday in the second day of drills that Beijing said were testing its ability to seize the self-ruled island, days after its new president was sworn in.

- 

China’s military kicked off the war games Thursday morning, encircling Taiwan with naval vessels and military aircraft as it vowed the blood of “independence forces” on the island would flow.

The exercises were launched after Lai Ching-te took office as Taiwan’s new president this week and made an inauguration speech that China denounced as a “confession of independence.”

Beijing is testing the “capability of joint seizure of power, joint strikes and control of key territories,” said Li Xi, spokesman for the People’s Liberation Army Eastern Theater Command yesterday.