China’s ‘Punishment’ Military Drills Concern Even Taiwan’s Beijing-Friendly Party

Just days after the inauguration of Taiwan’s new President William Lai Ching-te, of the Beijing-skeptical Democratic Progressive Party, China initiated surprise military drills around the self-governed island it claims as its own.

The People’s Liberation Army described the exercises, which included sending naval ships and warplanes into the Taiwan Strait and launching target strikes on areas surrounding the island, as “a strong punishment for the separatist acts of Taiwan independence...