U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Friday praised Taiwan, pledged U.S. solidarity and said her trip through Asia, which led to unprecedented military drills by an angry China, was not about changing the regional status quo.

Under the ‘One-China’ policy, nearly all countries across the globe recognise Beijing’s sovereignty over Chinese Taipei, including the U.S., which has no formal diplomatic ties with the territory but continues to support its anti-China stance and supply it with massive amounts of armaments.

Ms Pelosi’s diplomatic support to Taipei infuriated China, prompting it to hold live-fire military drills in the waters off Taiwan.

China’s state broadcaster said the military drills that are set to end on Sunday, would be the largest conducted by China in the Taiwan Strait.

The drills have involved live fire on the waters and in the airspace around the island.

Five missiles landed in Japan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ), prompting Tokyo to lodge a strong protest through diplomatic channels.

Speaking after the meeting with Ms Pelosi, Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida said China’s military drills aimed at Taiwan represented a “grave problem” threatening regional peace and security and the missile launches need to be “stopped immediately.”

Ms Pelosi, who previously asserted American commitment to democracy in Taiwan and elsewhere as “iron-clad,” said China would not isolate Taipei by preventing American officials from travelling there.

China’s Foreign Ministry, early on Wednesday, lodged a protest with U.S. ambassador Nicholas Burns over the unannounced visit by Ms Pelosi to Taiwan, which Beijing called its “breakaway province.”

The Chinese officials and experts warned Washington would bear all the consequences of “this dangerous and provocative” move.

(Reuters/NAN)