China launches "unprecedented" military maneuvers around Taiwan after Pelosi's visit and the US calls it "irresponsible"

• USA Nancy Pelosi questions Joe Biden's leadership with her trip to Taiwan

• Asia Is Taiwan prepared to resist an attack by the powerful Chinese army?

China

launched its biggest military exercises in decades around

early this morning in a show of force following a visit to the island by US House

.

The lawmaker left

on Wednesday at the end

that angered

, which considers the island part of its territory.

Crisis

Asia.

Is Taiwan prepared to resist an attack by the powerful Chinese army?

• Writing: LUCAS DE LA CAL

Is Taiwan prepared to resist an attack by the powerful Chinese army?

Pelosi,

second in line for the presidency, is the highest-profile US official to visit

in 25 years.

He said his presence was to "make it clear, unequivocally," that the United States will not abandon

.

In response,

has vowed to punish those who offend it and announced military exercises in the waters around

, which include some of the world's busiest shipping lanes.

The exercises, which began at 0400 GMT on Thursday, involve

with live fire, according to an announcement in state media.

Some maneuvers will be carried out 20 km from the coast of

and should end at noon on Sunday.

The state-run tabloid

reported, citing military analysts, that

and that missiles will fly over Taiwan for the first time.

"This is the first time the PLA will launch long-range live artillery across the

Strait, " according to the newspaper, in a reference to

.

Taipei has condemned the plans and warned that they threaten the security of East Asia.

"Some of the areas of Chinese maneuvers

" of

, Defense Ministry spokesman Sun Li-fang said on Wednesday.

The

also condemned the plans, saying in a statement that "there is no justification for using a visit as a pretext for aggressive military activity in the Taiwan Strait."

combat readiness

Maritime and Port Bureau

issued warnings to ships in the north, east and south of the country on Wednesday ahead of the maneuvers.

"Ships must avoid areas of military maneuvers and use alternative routes," the agency said.

Beijing

defended the exercises, as well as other maneuvers in recent days around

, as "just and necessary" and blamed the United States and its allies for the escalation.

"In the current fight over

's visit to

, the United States is the provocateur and China is the victim," Chinese Foreign Ministry

said .

"The US-

joint provocation came first , China's just defense came later," he added.

A Chinese military source said the exercises would be "in

."

"If Taiwanese forces come into contact with the PLA and accidentally fire a weapon, the PLA will take severe action and all consequences will be on the Taiwanese side," the source added.

The US describes the maneuvers as irresponsible

A senior US official has called China's military moves in response to the US House Speaker's visit to

irresponsible , and warned of the danger of the situation spiraling out of control.

"I think what

is doing here is not responsible," White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said in an interview with National Public Radio.

"Whenever a military person participates in a series of activities that include the possibility of missile tests, live fire exercises, or fighter planes that cross the sky and ships that move in the seas, the possibility of (that it happens) some kind of incident is real," Sullivan said.

He urged

to de-escalate tensions in the

Strait .

"What we expect is that the PRC (People's Republic of China) will act responsibly and avoid the kind of escalation that could lead to error or miscalculation in the air or on the seas," the official added.

Pelosi

traveled to

on Wednesday, defying threats from

, which sees the visit as a major provocation.

China

reacted furiously, announcing "necessary and just" military exercises in the waters off the coast of Taiwan, some of the world's busiest waterways.

Following Pelosi's departure,

's defense minister announced that 27 Chinese fighter planes entered the island's air defense zone.

In the past two years,

's defense zone

- a space larger than the island's airspace - but it remains a relatively infrequent occurrence.

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