Taiwan condemns China for conducting shooting drills off its coast
TAIPEI, Taiwan — Taiwan on Thursday condemned China’s military exercises after Beijing designated an area to conduct shooting drills off the self-governed island’s southwest coast.
China considers the island a renegade province to be taken by force if necessary and in recent years has increased military activity around Taiwan’s waters and airspace.
“China is the biggest troublemaker for regional peace and stability, and the sole and greatest threat to peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and the Indo-Pacific region,” Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry said in its statement.
Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said in a 24-hour period it detected 45 aircraft, 14 navy vessels and one ship from the Chinese military operating around Taiwan, of which 34 had crossed into its waters and airspace.
Taiwan said that it “responded accordingly” without elaborating.
This comes after Taiwan said four Chinese coast guard boats entered into its waters near Kinmen island earlier this week, and that Taiwan dispatched its own boats to drive them away.
Xinhua, China’s state-run news agency, reported that senior Chinese official Wang Huning during an annual meeting about Taiwan had called for China to take the initiative in cross-strait relations and push toward the “reunification of the motherland.”
Taiwan this week also said it caught a Chinese-owned vessel severing an undersea cable and detained the ship. Beijing has accused Taiwan of exaggerating the situation before facts have been clarified in an attempt at “political manipulation.”
Early-season heat dome brings highest temperatures in years to parts of Eastern U.S.
An intense and nearly historic weather pattern is cooking much of America under a dangerous heat dome this week with triple-digit temperatures in places that haven't been so hot in more than a decade.
Russian attacks on Ukraine kill 14 civilians as Zelenskyy travels to UK
The attacks came as Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy began a visit to the United Kingdom, where he met privately with King Charles III.
Last body found after boat capsizes on Lake Tahoe in storm, bringing death toll to 8
Ten people were on board the 27-foot (8-meter) vessel when it flipped Saturday afternoon on the lake's southwest edge, as the storm whipped up high waves, U.S. Coast Guard officials said.
Trump to rescind ‘Roadless Rule’ which protects 58 million acres of forest land
Speaking in New Mexico, President Trump's Secretary of Agriculture announced her intention to roll back a landmark 2001 conservation rule passed in the late hour of the Clinton administration.
Does Congress or the president hold war powers? Here’s what to know
President Trump's decision to launch airstrikes on Iran's nuclear facilities without first consulting Congress has drawn sharp criticism from lawmakers who say the move bypasses their constitutional authority to declare war.
U.S. Supreme Court allows — for now — third-country deportations
A federal judge had previously said people must get at least 15 days to challenge their deportations to countries they're not originally from.
