This is CBS Eye on the World.

Here's John Batchelor.

Reuters, headline.

China launches military drills around Taiwan,

calls Taiwan president a parasite.

I welcome my colleague and friend Gordon Chang at Gordon G. Chang.

Gordon, a military drill around Taiwan and defaming the president of Taiwan. What the message looks like to you, Gordon. Good day to you. Good day, John. Well, it looks like Xi Jinping is angry at

Taiwan, which is probably not news because this has been something that we have seen since C took

office. The important thing here is that regardless of the meaning of these particular drills,

Xi Jinping has staked his legitimacy on annexing Taiwan.

And that doesn't mean he's going to do it this year,

but it does mean that he understands this personal stakes for himself.

The Reuters copy includes this paragraph.

China's military deployed ships, aircraft, and artillery to practice blockading the island,

strikes on ground, and maritime targets, an air interception to, quote, test forces coordination in combat,

according to Beijing's Eastern Theater Command.

We welcome our colleague James Fennell, U.S. Navy retired captain, and now in Europe, watching

this very carefully several hours ahead of us here in the United States.

This exercise, Jim tells me, is called Straits Thunder, 2025 Alpha. Jim, a very good day to you.

The puzzle I have is, as reported some week back, there was a Chinese warship, two Chinese

warships and a supply ship off the coast of Australia in the

Tasman Sea and practiced live fire unannounced. Is there live fire in this exercise

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