China’s military has launched two days of major drills around Taiwan, encircling the island with ships and fighter jets in the greatest escalation in tension across the Taiwan Strait since 2022.
Li Jia, a People’s Liberation Army (PLA) spokesperson, called the drills “strong punishment for the separatist acts of Taiwan’s independence forces”.
Not only is Taiwan encircled, including its mountainous eastern flank, but the PLA is also operating close to the islands of Kinmen, Matsu, Wuqiu and Dongyin.
Image: Chinese TV showed images of planes taking off and naval exercises
Taiwan’s defence ministry condemned the drills, calling them an “irrational provocation and actions that disrupt peace and stability in the region”.
It said its navy, air force and ground forces had been deployed to “protect freedom and democracy and safeguard the sovereignty” of the island.
It comes only three days after Taiwan inaugurated its new president Lai Ching-te, also called William Lai.
China has previously called him a “dangerous separatist” after he made pro-independence comments earlier in his career.
Image: Lai Ching-te has just become Taiwan’s new leader. Pic: Reuters
Image: A Taiwanese jet coming in to land at Hsinchu Air Base on 23 May. Pic: Reuters
Since then, the new president has been more cautious about expressing his views.
During his inauguration speech, he did not outright challenge the status quo in Taiwan-Chinese relations, but did call on China to “face up to the fact that the Republic of Taiwan exists”.
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It was enough to enrage China and trigger this response.
Image: China’s top foreign affairs diplomat Wang Yi says Taiwan’s leaders are trying to change the status quo. Pic: Reuters
Speaking in Kazakhstan, China’s top foreign affairs diplomat Wang Yi said: “The leaders of the Taiwan region… have also presumptuously attempted to change the nature of cross-Strait relations.”
China insists Taiwan is Chinese territory and has vowed to “reunify” with the island – and has not ruled out the use of force to do so.
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The PLA regularly operates close to Taiwan in a type of warfare that analysts call the “grey-zone”. It’s not enough to tip the region into war, but keeps it in a constant state of high alert.
China has now dialled up the pressure. East Asia is on edge.
Worldwide stock markets have plummeted for the second day running as the fallout from Donald Trump’s global tariffs continues.
While European and Asian markets suffered notable falls, American indexes were the worst hit, with Wall Street closing to a sea of red on Friday following Thursday’s rout – the worst day in US markets since the COVID-19 pandemic.
All three of the US’s major indexes were down by more than 5% at market close; The Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted 5.5%, the S&P 500 was 5.97% lower, and the Nasdaq Composite slipped 5.82%.
The Nasdaq was also 22% below its record-high set in December, which indicates a bear market.
Ever since the US president announced the tariffs on Wednesday evening, analysts estimate that around $4.9trn (£3.8trn) has been wiped off the value of the global stock market.
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Mr Trump has remained unapologetic as the markets struggle, posting in all-caps on Truth Social before the markets closed that “only the weak will fail”.
The UK’s leading stock market, the FTSE 100, also suffered its worst daily drop in more than five years, closing 4.95% down, a level not seen since March 2020.
And the Japanese exchange Nikkei 225 dropped by 2.75% at end of trading, down 20% from its recent peak in July last year.
Image: US indexes had the worst day of trading since the COVID-19 pandemic. Pic: Reuters
Trump holds trade deal talks – reports
It comes as a source told CNN that Mr Trump has been in discussions with Vietnamese, Indianand Israelirepresentatives to negotiate bespoke trade deals that could alleviate proposed tariffs on those countries before a deadline next week.
The source told the US broadcaster the talks were being held in advance of the reciprocal levies going into effect next week.
Vietnam faced one of the highest reciprocal tariffs announced by the US president this week, with 46% rates on imports. Israeli imports face a 17% rate, and Indian goods will be subject to 26% tariffs.
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China – hit with 34% tariffs on imported goods – has also announced it will issue its own levy of the same rate on US imports.
Mr Trump said China “played it wrong” and “panicked – the one thing they cannot afford to do” in another all-caps Truth Social post earlier on Friday.
Later, on Air Force One, the US president told reporters that “the beauty” of the tariffs is that they allow for negotiations, referencing talks with Chinese company ByteDance on the sale of social media app TikTok.
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6:50
Tariffs: Xi hits back at Trump
He said: “We have a situation with TikTok where China will probably say, ‘We’ll approve a deal, but will you do something on the tariffs?’
“The tariffs give us great power to negotiate. They always have.”
Global financial markets gave a clear vote of no-confidence in President Trump’s economic policy.
The damage it will do is obvious: costs for companies will rise, hitting their earnings.
The consequences will ripple throughout the global economy, with economists now raising their expectations for a recession, not only in the US, but across the world.
The court ruled to uphold the impeachment saying the conservative leader “violated his duty as commander-in-chief by mobilising troops” when he declared martial law.
The president was also said to have taken actions “beyond the powers provided in the constitution”.
Image: Demonstrators stayed overnight near the constitutional court. Pic: AP
Supporters and opponents of the president gathered in their thousands in central Seoul as they awaited the ruling.
The 64-year-old shocked MPs, the public and international allies in early December when he declared martial law, meaning all existing laws regarding civilians were suspended in place of military law.
Image: The court was under heavy police security guard ahead of the announcement. Pic: AP
After suddenly declaring martial law, Mr Yoon sent hundreds of soldiers and police officers to the National Assembly.
He has argued that he sought to maintain order, but some senior military and police officers sent there have told hearings and investigators that Mr Yoon ordered them to drag out politicians to prevent an assembly vote on his decree.
His presidential powers were suspended when the opposition-dominated assembly voted to impeach him on 14 December, accusing him of rebellion.
The unanimous verdict to uphold parliament’s impeachment and remove Mr Yoon from office required the support of at least six of the court’s eight justices.
South Korea must hold a national election within two months to find a new leader.
Lee Jae-myung, leader of the main liberal opposition Democratic Party, is the early favourite to become the country’s next president, according to surveys.