Taipei, Taiwan — A Chinese aircraft carrier group sailed through the Taiwan Strait on Wednesday, Taiwan’s defense minister said, a day after Beijing held a live-fire exercise near the self-ruled island. China considers Taiwan to be part of its territory and has ramped up military activity around the island in recent years to pressure Taipei into accepting its claims of sovereignty. “The Liaoning is passing through the Taiwan Strait now, sailing north along the west of the median line (of the passage) and we are closely monitoring it,” Defense Minister Wellington Koo told reporters. The Liaoning, China’s oldest aircraft carrier