About 18,000 Chinese troops using their country’s most advanced weapons systems last week rehearsed coordinated air, sea and ground attacks on Dongshan, an island in the South China Sea that resembles Taiwan in terrain and weather. At about the same time, Taiwanese pilots 185 miles northeast landed advanced Mirage 2000-5 fighters on a blocked-off freeway to practice what they would do if their air bases were hit during a Chinese missile assault on the disputed territory. Providing its own martial background music, the U.S. Navy staged a global readiness drill with seven carrier groups around the world to show that the United States could muster overwhelming force anywhere, including Taiwan, despite the war in Iraq.Full Story