TAIPEI China 's military began a live fire exercise near Taiwan on Wednesday, maintaining pressure on the self-ruled island after staging large-scale drills and President Xi Jinping called for troops to prepare for war. China's Communist Party has never ruled the island, but it claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has said it will not renounce the use of force to bring it under its control. This month it sent planes and warships around the island, in what Beijing said was a "stern warning