China launches military drills around Taiwan, calls its president a ‘parasite’

By Staff Reporter
BEIJING/TAIPEI, April 1 (Reuters) – China began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan on Tuesday as a “stern warning” against separatism and called Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te a “parasite”, as Taiwan sent warships to respond to China’s navy approaching its coast.
The exercises around the democratically governed island, which China views as its own territory and has never renounced the use of force to bring under its control, come after Lai called Beijing a “foreign hostile force” last month.