China launches drills around Taiwan in angry response to VP’s US trip

China launched military drills around Taiwan on Saturday as a "serious warning" to separatist forces in an angry but widely expected response to Vice President William Lai's visit to the United States, drawing condemnation from Taipei. Lai, the front-runner to become Taiwan's president in elections in January, returned from the United States on Friday. He officially made only stopovers on his way to and from Paraguay but gave speeches while in the U.S. China views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory, despite the strong objections of the island's government. The People's Liberation Army's Eastern Theatre Command, which has responsibility…