China was set to press ahead Friday with its largest-ever military exercises encircling Taiwan despite firm statements of condemnation by the United States, Japan and the European Union.
Beijing's decision to fire ballistic missiles and deploy fighter jets around Taiwan saw Washington lambast what it said was a gross overreaction to a visit to the self-ruled, democratic island by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
The drills involved a "conventional missile firepower assault" in waters to the east of Taiwan, the Chinese military said. Beijing has said they will continue until midday Sunday. Japan has lodged a formal diplomatic complaint against Beijing for the drills, with five of the missiles believed to have landed in its exclusive economic zone.
"We have said from the start that our representation here is not about changing the status quo here in Asia, changing the status quo in Taiwan," she added. Taiwan's Maritime and Port Bureau has issued warnings to ships to avoid the areas being used for the Chinese drills. "China's planned live-fire exercises are occurring in an incredibly busy waterway," Nick Marro, the Economist Intelligence Unit's lead analyst for global trade, wrote in a note.
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