TAIPEI/TAINAN, Taiwan — China on Monday began another round of military exercises aimed at intimidating neighboring Taiwan — maneuvers experts say are aimed at normalizing blockade-like activity and treating the democratic island's waters like Beijing's.
The latest exercises – which began just days after Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te's National Day address in which he defended Taiwan's sovereignty while also arriving in Beijing – involve a major expansion of the Chinese Coast Guard's role. For the first time, the service's ships were sent to blockade the main island of Taiwan.