As it happened: China plans show of force after Pelosi's visit to Taiwan

1. Top US Democrat Nancy Pelosi leaves Taiwan after meeting its President Tsai Ing-wen, despite warnings from China not to do so
2. She praised Taiwan as an island of resilience and said the US commitment to democracy there was iron-clad
3. China says it will hold a series of live-fire military drills in the air and sea around the island from Thursday
4. Taiwan says the move violates the island's sovereignty and amounts to a blockade
5. The US speaker's trip, which was not backed by President Biden, was the first by such a senior US official in 25 years
6. Beijing sees self-ruled Taiwan - which lies 100 miles from the Chinese mainland - as a breakaway province that will eventually be under its control

That's all from us

Taiwan Ministry of Foreign Affairs

The Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, has left Taiwan after a high-profile visit that infuriated China. Pelosi - the most senior American to visit the self-ruled island in 25 years - said she had reiterated "iron-clad" support for Taiwan's democracy.

China, which claims the island as its territory, responded to the visit by announcing three days of live-fire exercises around its coast, starting on Thursday.

You can read our full news story about Pelosi's visit here.

We are now finishing our live coverage - thank you for following along.

Wednesday's live page was edited in Singapore and London by Thomas Spender and Claudia Allen and written by Jack Burgess, Laura Gozzi, Aoife Walsh, Frances Mao and Melissa Zhu.

As China broods, Taiwan is in a 'Pelosi lovefest'

Rupert Wingfield-Hayes

BBC News, Taiwan

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For Taiwan this trip by Nancy Pelosi is about support, but also legitimacy.

Taiwan needs America's support, military and otherwise. But it craves legitimacy. It craves recognition that this is not some "renegade province" as Beijing calls it, but a proud country, with its own democratic government and a determination to keep it that way.

That is why a visit by the Speaker of the US House of Representatives means so much. America is what Taiwan looks up to, not China.

You can see it in the excited way Pelosi's arrival here is being reported on Taiwan's many TV news channels.

They have been studying everything from the colour of her outfits to the height of her heels - very high for an 82-year-old, apparently - and the fact that she "looked like Audrey Hepburn in that photo of her with President John F. Kennedy back in 1961".

Read more here.

Reaction from China, Russia and Ukraine

BBC Monitoring

Several journalists and commentators in China have been tweeting their condemnation of Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan. China’s diplomats also used social media to sharpen their criticism of the US during the visit.

In the last three days, Zhang Meifang, the consul-general in Belfast, remained the most active diplomat on Twitter, posting several tweets on Taiwan. She flagged up Foreign Minister Wang Yi's warning on 2 August that the US "making themselves an enemy of the 1.4 billion Chinese people will not end up well".

The former Global Times editor-in-chief Hu Xijin’s Twitter account had been briefly locked last week after he tweeted that the Chinese army had the right to shoot down Pelosi's plane if she visited. He has now criticised the US Speaker for causing a lockdown of Taiwan’s main ports, which will be effectively blocked during China’s drills. “This is what Pelosi’s visit has brought to Taiwan," he tweeted.

The antagonists in the Russia-Ukraine war have also been following the visit closely with Ukrainian commentators drawing parallels between Russia “the bully” and China.

Former Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin said the USA "showed its teeth" and noted that the Kremlin had probably noticed this.

Many Russian commentators don’t expect a major crisis to arise from the trip as they believe neither China nor the US has the appetite to further escalate tensions. State-owned Rossiyskaya Gazeta said it was simply a case of both sides flexing their muscles.

A report in Russia’s Nezavisimaya Gazeta said Beijing may instead increase support for Russia and North Korea.

So what happens next?

Joshua Cheetham

BBC News

As Chinese military drills are due to get started following Pelosi's visit, what is the chance that tensions over Taiwan could spill into full-scale war?

Professor Steve Tsang, director of the China Institute at London's School of Oriental and African Studies, believes it unlikely that war will break out – at least for now.

“The Chinese do not as yet have the capability to take Taiwan and to take on the Americans and be certain they would win,” says Tsang.

“The Taiwanese for obvious reasons really don’t want a war. They are not stupid. They will be the theatre of any military operations and will be most devastated by it.”

Michael O’Hanlon, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institute, a US-based think tank, agrees that open conflict is in neither side's interest.

“Nobody could predict where it would go,” he tells the BBC. “It could very easily become global, it could very easily escalate, it could very easily involve nuclear threats.

“China is a major concern for the United States but it is less of an acute threat to the world than Russia,” he adds.

“Putin values disruption and he’s proved that he’s willing to take huge risks in pursuit of that goal. I don’t think China would pursue that unless they had absolutely no other choice on the Taiwan matter,” O'Hanlon tells BBC News.

America unwavering in commitment to Taiwan people - Pelosi

US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi - who's on the plane to her next destination in the region - has been tweeting about her visit to Taiwan, calling the meeting with President Tsai Ing-wen a "privilege".

She also said it was an honour to be awarded Taiwan's highest civilian honour by President Tsai.

Pelosi finished her twitter thread by saying "America remains unwavering in our commitment to the people of Taiwan - now and for decades to come".

Have US arms sales to Taiwan increased?

Beijing has repeatedly called on Washington to honour a deal to reduce US arms sales to Taiwan, and says these promises have been broken.

In 1982, President Ronald Reagan agreed to a gradual reduction in military sales, but added a condition that this would depend on "the commitment of China to a peaceful solution" with Taiwan, which China considers to be a breakaway province.

No agreement was reached on the timescale for this reduction or the form it would take.

Over the decades, the value of US arms sales to Taiwan has fluctuated widely.

The single biggest purchase was made in 1992 by former Taiwan President Lee Teng-hui, following a policy to enhance Taiwan’s independent defence capabilities.

In 2007 Taiwan significantly increased its defence budget, leading to a significant increase in arms purchased from the US.

Former US President Barack Obama (in office between 2009-2017) approved three separate arms deals, with a total value of $12bn over eight years.

His successor Donald Trump signed deals worth at least $14bn during his four years in office.

President Joe Biden has so far signed deals worth just over $1bn.

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'A strong signal that Taiwan and US won't be intimidated'

Jeremy Huai-Che Chiang - formerly a researcher at the Taiwan-Asia Exchange Foundation - has said that Nancy Pelosi was received positively by people in Taiwain, with a large crowd at the airport. Bakeries in Taiwan were giving out free food for every hour of her visit. He told BBC News:

This visit sends a strong signal that both Taiwan and the US will not be intimidated by Beijing’s increased aggression. If Speaker Pelosi had abandoned the visit it would have sent the wrong signal to Beijing, but also to other democratic allies. They would also feel that they needed to refrain from supporting Taiwan which would have led to a domino effect.

What's the latest from Taiwan?

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If you're just joining us, here's the latest on top US Democrat Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan.

• US House Speaker Pelosi has left Taiwan after arriving yesterday to meet President Tsai Ing-wen

• Pelosi's visit has angered China, which sees the self-ruled island as a breakaway province it aims to take

• China has announced it will hold military drills in both air and sea from Thursday - which will include firing "long-range ammunition"
• Taiwan calls the drills a breach of UN conventions and says they amount to an air and sea blockade against the island
• Taiwan's president has tweeted that Pelosi's visit sends a message to the world that "democracies stand together" in the face of common challenges
• Pelosi was given Taiwan's highest civilian honour by President Tsai

What have the US and China been saying about the visit?

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi made several strongly worded statements during Pelosi’s trip to Taiwan, accusing US politicians of "playing with fire".

Calling the visit a “farce”, Wang Yi said that the US was “violating China's sovereignty under the guise of so-called "democracy". He also accused Taiwan's president Tsai Ing-wen of "clinging to the US" and "turning her back on national justice".

EPA

Meanwhile, White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said that the US was "not going to be intimidated" by China's threats or bellicose rhetoric and that there was no reason Pelosi’s visit should precipitate a conflict between the two countries.

Kirby also warned that China might engage in "economic coercion" toward Taiwan and said that US-China relations would depend on Chinese behaviour and actions going forward.

Where China's drills will take place

Nancy Pelosi is on her way - what happens now after the first visit by such a senior US official for decades?

China is retaliating to the top Democrat's visit by holding military drills in the areas in the map below around Taiwan.

The drills will begin on Thursday and last until Sunday, Beijing says.

This time three of the six zones intrude into Taiwan’s 12-mile limit and our correspondent Rupert Wingfield-Hayes in Taiwan says that is unprecedented.

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BreakingPelosi leaves Taiwan

The US House Speaker's plane has taken off from Songshan airport, ending a visit of less than 24 hours to the island.

She's travelling on to South Korea and Japan.

Pelosi waves goodbye as Taiwan visit ends

Nancy Pelosi waves as she leaves Taiwan after short visit

Fierce promotion of 'One China' message

Kerry Allen

BBC Monitoring, Chinese Media Analyst

Within mainland China, there is a fierce propaganda drive today to promote the message that there is "only one China in the world" amid US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit.

Posters with slogans are common when the Chinese government wants to make a bold statement. The official CCTV broadcaster has today published a poster with the message: "China - There is only One China in the World" on major social media platforms including the Twitter-like Sina Weibo.

Within 24 hours, the poster has been shared more than six million times, including by other prominent media outlets with millions of followers. The hashtag #OnlyOneChinaInTheWorld is currently trending on the platform.

Read more about Washington's One China policy and Beijing's One China principle - they are not the same thing

BreakingPelosi prepares to leave Taiwan

TV pictures are showing the US House Speaker on the tarmac at Songshan airport near Taipei.

She will be continuing her visit of the region, travelling to South Korea and Japan next.

Who recognises Taiwan?

China regards Taiwan as a breakaway province which it has vowed to retake, by force if necessary.

But Taiwan's leaders say it is clearly much more than a province, arguing that it is a sovereign state.

It has its own constitution, democratically-elected leaders, and about 300,000 active troops in its armed forces. Chiang Kai-shek's Republic of China (ROC) government, which fled the mainland to Taiwan in 1949, at first claimed to represent the whole of China, which it intended to re-occupy.

It held China's seat on the United Nations Security Council and was recognised by many Western nations as the only Chinese government.

But in 1971, the UN switched diplomatic recognition to Beijing and the ROC government was forced out.

Since then the number of countries that recognise the ROC government diplomatically has fallen drastically to about 15.

Given the huge divide between these two positions, most other countries seem happy to accept the current ambiguity, whereby Taiwan has virtually all of the characteristics of an independent state, even if its legal status remains unclear.

Pelosi's visit sends message to world - Taiwan leader

Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen has been tweeting about top US Democrat Nancy Pelosi's visit, saying it sends a message to the world that "democracies stand together" in the face of common challenges.

Meeting with rights activists

Pelosi spoke with activists in a closed-door meeting at the National Human Rights Museum in New Taipei City on Wednesday afternoon.

Those she met included:

• Hong Kong bookseller Lam Wing Kee, who fled to Taiwan in 2019 after being detained by China;
• Taiwanese activist Lee Ming-che, who was detained in mainland China in 2017 and released this year; and
• Former Tiananmen Square demonstrator Wuer Kaixi.

In an interview with Reuters before the meeting, Lam said he wanted to ask Pelosi whether the White House could help those in Taiwan who could not return to Hong Kong yet were also unable to obtain Taiwanese identity cards go to the US.

Reuters

Lam was one of five booksellers detained in 2015 after selling material critical of the Chinese political elite

How Nancy Pelosi rose to the top - and stayed there

Ms Pelosi is now the most senior US elected official to visit Taiwan in more than 25 years. In an op-ed defending the visit as an act of diplomacy, she called on Americans to remember their commitment to supporting democracy in Taiwan, and around the world.

At 82 years old, Ms Pelosi is one of the most powerful politicians in the United States. She was re-elected to a fourth term as Speaker of the House of Representatives in 2021, making her second in line to the presidency after Vice-President Kamala Harris.

The BBC's Anthony Zurcher says Ms Pelosi may view her trip to Taiwan as a means to burnish her political legacy, in the twilight of her long political career. Although she has not announced her retirement, a Republican win in November's mid-term elections could usher her out of power for the last time.

Ending her tenure as speaker with a historic trip - setting down a marker for democracy over autocracy, as she has framed it - could be her way of exiting the stage with a flourish.

Read more here

In pictures: Pelosi's day so far

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She was given Taiwan's highest civilian honour by President Tsai Ing-wen

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The two leaders held talks

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She later visited Taipei's Jingmei Human Rights Cultural Park

Drills have potential to become full-scale crisis

Rupert Wingfield-Hayes

BBC News, Taiwan

It is clear now that Beijing is not going to be satisfied by venting its anger at Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan with mere words, or even some targeted sanctions on Taiwan companies.

The announcement of six large exclusion zones around Taiwan starting on Thursday, and lasting for four days, has the potential to turn this into a full-scale crisis.

Beijing did the same thing back in 1996, the last time there was a so called “Taiwan Straits Crisis”. But then the exclusion zones were all well outside Taiwan’s territorial waters.

This time three of the six zones intrude into Taiwan’s 12-mile limit. That is unprecedented.

Taiwan’s defence ministry has already called the move a breach of UN conventions, and said it amounts to an air and sea blockade against the island.

If China were to move ships or aircraft into those areas, it would amount and invasion of Taiwan territory. This makes the stakes much higher as Taiwan may feel compelled to defend its own territorial waters.

The US Navy is watching all of this very closely, and already has the USS Ronald Reagan carrier battle group sailing nearby in the Philippine Sea.

In 1996 the then US President Bill Clinton moved two carrier battle groups close to Taiwan, to make it clear the US was ready to intervene if China attacked the island.

But the military balance today is very different from 1996. China has its own carrier battle groups, both of which are reported to be heading towards the Taiwan Strait.