China announces ‘combat readiness patrols’ around Taiwan

BEIJING (AP) — The Chinese military says it has launched exercises around Taiwan in a new act of retaliation for a meeting between the U.S. House of Representatives speaker and the president of the self-ruled island democracy claimed by Beijing as part of its territory. The People’s Liberation Army said Saturday the exercises were a warning to Taiwanese who want to make the island’s de facto independence permanent. Speaker Kevin McCarthy held talks with President Tsai Ing-wen on Thursday in California in a show of support in the face of Chinese intimidation. Taiwan split with China after a civil war in 1949.