Taiwan sends forces as China starts ‘punishment’ drills

Taiwan’s military mobilised its forces and said it was confident it could protect the island, after China started two days of “punishment” drills around Taiwan in what it said was a response to “separatist acts”. The exercises, in the Taiwan Strait and around groups of Taiwan-controlled islands that sit next to the Chinese coast, come just three days after Lai Ching-te took office as Taiwan’s new president, a man Beijing detests as a “separatist”. China, which views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory, has denounced Mr Lai’s inauguration speech, in which he called on China to stop its threats…