China military ‘ready to fight’ after drills near Taiwan

By HUIZHONG WU
Associated Press

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — China’s military has declared it is “ready to fight” after completing three days of large-scale combat exercises around Taiwan that simulated sealing off the island in response to the Taiwanese president’s trip to the U.S. last week. China says the “combat readiness patrols” named Joint Sword were meant as a warning to self-governing Taiwan, which China claims as its own. The exercises were similar to ones conducted by China last August, when it launched missile strikes on targets in the seas around Taiwan in retaliation for then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan, but have been smaller and less disruptive.