China has fired several ballistic missiles into the waters around Taiwan as it launched large-scale military exercises in response to US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to the self-ruled island.

Chinese state media said the live-fire drills in six areas around Taiwan got underway on Thursday and will continue until the same time on Sunday.

Senior Colonel Shi Yi, spokesman for China’s Eastern Theater Command, said in a statement carried by state media that rocket forces in multiple locations on the mainland launched several types of missiles into designated waters off the eastern coast of Taiwan.

The missiles carried conventional warheads and all of them hit their targets accurately, he said, adding that the aim of the drills was to test the precision of the weapons and ability to deny an enemy access to or control of an area.

The Taiwanese Ministry of Defense confirmed the weapons launches, identifying them as Dongfeng-class ballistic missiles condemned the exercises as “irrational actions that undermine regional peace”.

The last time China fired missiles into waters around Taiwan was in 1996, in the run-up to the re-election of President Lee Teng-hui, who had visited the United States the previous year. 

Beijing, which had threatened “serious consequences” over Pelosi’s visit, claims Taiwan as its own and has not ruled out the use of force to take control of the island.

Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan on Wednesday was the first by a sitting speaker of the house, the third most senior politician in the US, in 25 years.

The US, while having formal diplomatic relations with China, follows a policy of “strategic ambiguity” on Taiwan and is bound by law to provide the island of 23 million people with the means to defend itself.

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