China starts live-fire military exercises around Taiwan


China on Thursday launched unprecedented live-fire military drills around Taiwan in a show of force following House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan, a self-governing island Beijing considers part of its territory, Reuters reports.
The exercises, scheduled to last until Sunday, included air, ground, and sea strikes. Chinese forces launched two missiles near Taiwan's Matsu islands off China's coast. Chinese naval ships and warplanes crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait, the unofficial maritime boundary.
Taiwan called the drills "irresponsible, illegitimate behavior," saying they violated its territorial space and United Nations rules, amounting to a blockade. Pelosi continued her Asia tour with a stop in South Korea.
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Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.
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