China announces new drills around Taiwan

BEIJING – China announced more military drills around Taiwan as the island’s president met with members of a new US congressional delegation on Monday.

The patrols and exercises conducted in the “sea and air space around Taiwan” on Monday provided a “resolute response and stern deterrence to US-Taiwan collusion,” Chinese Defense Ministry spokesman Senior Colonel Wu Qian said in a statement carried by Associated Press.

The move came as a delegation led by Senator Ed Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat, continued a two-day visit to the democratically governed island.