Beijing begins manoeuvres to north, south and east of island, days after President Lai made first National Day speech.

China on Monday launched military drills around Taiwan, Beijing's defence ministry said, sending planes and ships to encircle the self-ruled island.China has ramped up military activity around Taiwan in recent years,

China’s military on Monday launched military drills around Taiwan, calling the large-scale exercises a “stern warning to the separatist acts of Taiwan Independence forces.”

China's military started a new round of war games near Taiwan on Monday, saying it was a warning to the "separatist acts of Taiwan independence forces", and offered no date for when they may conclude.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - China has no justification for using an annual national day speech by Taiwan as a pretext for military pressure, a senior U.S. administration official said on Wednesday.

I can tell you that with regard to the so-called Ten Ten speech, which is a regular exercise, China should not use it in any fashion as a pretext for provocative actions,” Blinken told reporters during a press conference in Vientiane,

China, which views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory, detests its president Lai Ching-te as a "separatist", and the Chinese military routinely operates around the island. Last week at his keynote national day speech,