China is due on Thursday to kick off its largest-ever military exercises encircling Taiwan, in a show of force straddling vital international shipping lanes following a visit to the self-ruled island by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
BEIJING -
Her trip sparked a furious reaction from Beijing, which vowed "punishment" for those that had offended it and announced military drills in the seas around Taiwan -- some of the world's busiest waterways. Nationalist state-run tabloid the Global Times reported, citing military analysts, that the exercises were "unprecedented" and that missiles would fly over Taiwan for the first time.
"In the current struggle surrounding Pelosi's Taiwan visit, the United States are the provocateurs, China is the victim," foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told a regular briefing Wednesday.A Chinese military source also told AFP the exercises would be staged "in preparation for actual combat".
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