China increased pressure on Taiwan Friday by announcing yet another round of war games, this one more dangerously close to the island.
Taiwan had expected the maneuvers to expand, and before the Chinese announcement, a combative President Lee Teng-hui said the war games were not cowing Taiwan and that he and his premier were not "wimps with weak feet."China has said its maneuvers are intended to quash pro-independence sentiment on Taiwan as it prepares for its first direct presidential election on March 23. China claims sovereignty over Taiwan and accuses Lee, the leading presidential candidate, of plotting an independence drive.
Xinhua, the official Chinese news agency, said the new ground, sea and air exercises will take place March 18-25.
Chinese troops are currently conducting air and sea maneuvers in the Taiwan Straits that separate China from Taiwan. Those maneuvers, to end Tuesday, overlapped eight days of ballistic missile tests that China said ended today.