TAIPEI
\nChinese aircraft and warships practised on Saturday for an attack on Taiwan, island officials said, in retaliation for a visit there by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that also saw Beijing halt dialogue with the United States in several areas.
\nPelosi\u2019s brief unannounced visit during the week to the self-ruled island claimed by China infuriated Beijing and has prompted unprecedented military drills that have included ballistic missiles fired over the capital, Taipei.
\nThe Chinese exercises are scheduled to last until midday on Sunday.
\nOn Saturday morning, Taiwan\u2019s defence ministry said multiple Chinese ships and planes conducted missions in the Taiwan Strait, with some crossing the median line, an unofficial buffer separating the two sides, movements that Taiwan\u2019s military believes were part of a simulation attack on the main Taiwan island.
\nTaiwan\u2019s army broadcast a warning and deployed air reconnaissance patrol forces and ships to monitor while putting shore-based missiles on stand-by.
\nTaiwan\u2019s defence ministry also said it fired flares late on Friday to warn away seven drones flying over its Kinmen islands and unidentified aircraft flying over its Matsu islands. Both island groups lie close to mainland China\u2019s southeastern coast.
\nPelosi arrived in Taiwan late on Tuesday, the highest-level visit to the island by a U.S. official in decades, despite Chinese warnings, and it has promoted a flurry of retaliation, including sanctions against Pelosi herself.
\nShortly after her delegation left Japan on Friday, the final stop of a week-long Asia tour, China announced that it was halting dialogue with the United States in a number of areas including between theatre-level military commanders and on climate change.
\nChina\u2019s foreign ministry said it was also suspending exchanges on countering cross-border crime and drug trafficking. The United States called the response \u201cirresponsible\u201d.
\nOn Friday, the Eastern Theater Command of China\u2019s People\u2019s Liberation Army said it conducted air and sea drills to the north, southwest and east of Taiwan to test is forces\u2019 \u201cjoint combat capabilities\u201d.
\nU.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Washington had repeatedly made clear to Beijing it did not seek a crisis over Pelosi\u2019s visit to Taiwan.
\n\u201cThere is no justification for this extreme, disproportionate and escalatory military response,\u201d he told a news conference on the sidelines of regional meetings in Cambodia.
\n\u201cNow, they\u2019ve taken dangerous acts to a new level.\u201d
\nBlinken emphasised that the United States would not take action to provoke a crisis but it would support allies and conduct standard air and maritime transit through the Taiwan Strait.
\n\u201cWe will fly, sail and operate wherever international law allows,\u201d he said.
\nA U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Chinese officials had not responded to calls made by senior Pentagon officials this week but that was seen as a show of displeasure over Pelosi\u2019s trip rather than the severing of the channel between senior defence officials including U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.
\nChinese foreign minister Wang Yi told a media briefing on Friday: \u201cI heard that U.S. Secretary of State Blinken held his news conference and spread some misinformation and was not speaking truthfully.\u201d
\n\u201cWe wish to issue a warning to the United States: Do not act rashly, do not create a greater crisis,\u201d Wang said.
\nJing Quan, a senior Chinese Embassy official in Washington, echoed that, telling a briefing: \u201cThe only way out of this crisis is that the U.S. side must take measures immediately to rectify its mistakes and eliminate the grave impact of Pelosi\u2019s visit.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
TAIPEI Chinese aircraft and warships practised on Saturday for an attack on Taiwan, island officials said, in retaliation for a visit there by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that also saw Beijing halt dialogue with the United States in several areas. Pelosi\u2019s brief unannounced visit during the week to the self-ruled island claimed by China […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":276039,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-276021","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n