China's military carried out air and naval drills off its southeastern coast in "recent days," the Defense Ministry said in a brief statement Sunday, a move that comes less than a week after the U.S. approved a $2.2 billion arms deal for self-ruled Taiwan.
The statement did not give the exact location or timing of the exercises, but it claimed they were "routine arrangements in accordance with annual plans for the military."
China's southeastern coast faces self-governed and democratic Taiwan, which Beijing views as a renegade province that must be brought back into the fold — by force if necessary.