Taiwan’s armed forces conducted a live-fire exercise on the outlying Penghu Island late Thursday evening, simulating the incursion of Chinese coast guard vessels and militia fishing boats into Taiwanese waters.

China will “absolutely not tolerate” independence for Taiwan, which is the chief culprit in undermining peace in the Taiwan Strait, President Xi Jinping told the island’s opposition leader on Friday,

China's Dalian Maritime Affairs Bureau today announced that live-fire drills are being held in the northern Yellow Sea from 10am to 6pm, and entry to certain areas is prohibited, the state-run China National Radio reported.

Over Taiwan’s Qingming holiday weekend, as families cleaned ancestral graves and crowded around dinner tables, a familiar debate has resurfaced: should this island democracy rely more heavily on the United States for its security or try to reduce tensions by engaging with China?