no one is above the law and so we intend to move quickly. now, mainland china says military exercises in the taiwan str strait are necessary to, quote, defend national sovereignty. this comes amid tensions between beijing and taipei and they call the actions toward taiwan destabilizing. we do remain concerned by the prc s provocative military activity. we are your honoring beijing to cease this military diplomatic and economic pressure in the coercion against taiwan. we have an abiding interest in peace and stability across the taiwan strait and that is why we ll continue to assist taiwan in maintaining sufficient self-defense capability. cnn s will ripley is following developments and has more on the strained relations between mainland china and taiwan. reporter: worse for worse, the head of the one party state, china s president saying a