Top US Democrat Nancy Pelosi is visiting Taiwan as part of a tour of Asia, despite sharp warnings from China. The trip, which is not backed by President Biden, is the first by such a senior US official in decades. Pelosi will meet Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen in the morning, then fly out after lunch, writes BBC.

China has condemned the trip as a “serious violation” that will have a “severe impact” on China-US relations. China’s army will hold military exercises near Taiwan from Thursday until Sunday, its state media says.

As soon as the US House Speaker landed, China’s state media was ready to go, announcing that the country’s fighter jets were flying across the Taiwan Strait, as a show of force.

Soon Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Hua Chunying was tweeting, “China has been compelled to act in self-defence. Any countermeasure to be taken by China would be a justified and necessary response to the US oblivion to China’s repeated démarches and the US’s unscrupulous behaviour”.

It looks like the centrepiece of China’s response will be a series of live-fire exercises in the waters ringing the island over several days.

According to the People’s Liberation Army, in six huge areas off Taiwan’s North, South, East and West coasts, China’s aircraft and ships will be manoeuvring and testing long-range ammunition.