China stages mock missile strikes on Taiwan

China staged mock missile strikes and dispatched fighter jets carrying live missiles along with bombers yesterday, state broadcaster CCTV said, as part of exercises Beijing has said were launched to punish Taiwan's new President Lai Ching-te.

The bombers set up several attack formations in waters east of Taiwan, carrying out mock attacks in co-ordination with naval vessels, it added, as China tested its ability to control key areas of Taiwan.

The two days of drills in the Taiwan Strait and around groups of Taiwan-controlled islands near the Chinese coast, which a Taiwanese official said also included mock bombing of foreign vessels, started just three days after Lai took office on Monday. Taiwan has condemned China's actions.

China views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory and denounces Lai as a "separatist". It strongly criticised his inauguration speech.