Taiwan condemns China for latest combat drills near island

Taiwan condemned China on Monday for holding its second military combat drills around the island in less than a month, with the defense ministry saying it had detected 57 Chinese aircraft. China views democratically-governed Taiwan as its own territory and has been ramping up military, political and economic pressure to assert those claims. The Eastern Theatre Command of the People’s Liberation Army said its forces held “joint combat readiness patrols and actual combat drills” in the sea and airspace around Taiwan, focused on land strikes and sea assaults.