Chinese military to stage drills around Taiwan to warn 'external forces'

HONG KONG, Dec 29 (Agencies): The Chinese military said Monday said it was dispatching air, navy and rocket troops to conduct joint military drills around Taiwan, a move it called a "stern warning" against separatist and "external interference" forces.

The drills came after Beijing expressed anger at US arms sales to the territory and a st atement by Japan's prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, saying that its military could get involved if China were to take action against Taiwan, the self-governing island that the world's second-biggest economy says must come under its rule. But the Chinese military did not mention Japan in its statement on Monday morning.

Thailand and Cambodia agree to

consolidate ceasefire in China talks

Thailand and Cambodia plan to rebuild mutual trust and gradually consolidate a ceasefire after weeks of border clashes, Beijing said in a communique with the two countries following talks in southwestern China.

The Southeast Asian neighbours on Saturday ended weeks of fierce fighting that killed at least 101 people and displaced more than half a million with their second ceasefire since late October. Thailand and Cambodia's top diplomats travelled to the Chinese province of Yunnan for trilateral talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi to discuss the border situation on Sunday and Monday.

In a meeting with his Thai and Cambodian counterparts, Wang called the ceasefire "hard-won," and urged the two nations not to abandon it halfway or allow fighting to resume.