China-Taiwan news: Top Taiwan official found dead as China accused of attack simulation

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited the demilitarised zone, which sits along the border of North Korea and South Korea, along with a congressional delegation on Thursday.

“It was a privilege to engage with American heroes in uniform on the ground in Korea, led by General Paul LaCamera, Commander, U.S. Forces Korea. During visits to the Demilitarized Zone/Joint Security Area (DMZ/JSA) and Osan Air Base, we conveyed the gratitude of the Congress and the Country for the patriotic service of our Servicemembers, who stand as sentinels of Democracy on the Korean peninsula,” Ms Pelosi said in a statement.

Her trip to the DMZ comes on the heels of her visit to Taiwan, which infuriated China. Beijing responded by engaging in live-fire military drills in the Taiwan Strait.

Reports coming out of South Korean media suggest that Korea Air has cancelled flights between that country and Taiwan due to China’s live-fire drills in the Taiwan Strait.

Korean Air has reportedly cancelled flights between the city of Incheon and Taiwan for Friday and Saturday.

Singapore’s Civil Aviation Authority said it also rerouted flights to avoid the Taiwan Strait due to China’s drills.

NSC spokesman Admiral John Kirby told reporters Thursday that USS Ronald Regan, a US Navy aircraft carrier, will remain in the western Pacific as China runs live-fire drills in the wake of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan.

China engaged in live-fire drills on Wednesday and Thursday, some of which flew over Taipei and landed in Japanese waters.

Reports from Taiwan suggest its defense officials scrambled jets and fired off flares to ward off Chinese drones flying near the island.

Taiwanese officials said four drones were operating near the island, and that at one point on Thursday 22 Chinese jets crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait before turning around.

National Security Council spokesman Admiral John Kirby said the US expects that China will continue aggressive military shows of force in reaction to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s trip to Taiwan.

“China has chosen to overreact and use the Speaker’s visit as a pretext to increase provocative military activity in and around the Taiwan Strait,” Mr Kirby said during a briefing at the White House. “We also expect that these actions will continue.”

It’s unclear what specifically what actions the US expects China to take in the coming days.

Hua Chunying, a spokesperson for the Chinese military, condemned the US and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday, calling the US the “biggest saboteur of peace” on the planet.

“Pelosi’s stunt is another bankruptcy of US politics, diplomacy and credibility. It proves the US to be the biggest saboteur of peace and the biggest troublemaker to regional stability,” she wrote.

If Nancy Pelosi went to Taiwan with the aim of making its people feel more secure, then her visit may be judged to have enjoyed mixed results at best.

It was a rare visit and president Tsai Ing-wen of Taiwan was no doubt delighted to greet Speaker Pelosi, technically second only to vice-president Kamala Harris in seniority. But it is not obvious the visit enjoyed support from the White House, or signalled any substantial new commitment of American resources to the defence of Taiwan.

Ms Pelosi, in other words, was engaged in gesture politics, albeit of a lofty kind, and the gesture was taken to be an exceptionally rude one in Beijing, which has chosen to ignore the nuances of how far Speaker Pelosi was acting with the authority of President Biden.

There are few issues more likely to send Chinese officialdom into paroxysms of rage than Taiwan, and Speaker Pelosi must have known this. A politician of unusual strength of mind, she has a long record in defending the universal human rights of the Chinese people against their authoritarian government. Moreover, she has plenty of experience in understanding the diplomatic sensitivities involved in such an initiative as her official trip.

Read more from The Independent’s editorial about the controversial trip.

Tory leadership candidate Liz Truss has said that she will not visit Taiwan if she is elected prime minister and leader of the Conservative party.

The foreign secretary’s comments came after China fired missiles in military drills following a visit from US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday, 3 August.

“We have a long standing position that the foreign secretary, the Ministry of Defence and the prime minister don’t visit Taiwan,” Ms Truss said during a Sky News debate on Thursday.

More from Independent TV.

South Korean president Yoon Suk-yeol didn’t meet with US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi when she arrived in the country for the next leg of her Asian tour.

Instead, the head of state was on what’s been dubbed a “staycation.”

He was spotted on Wednesday evening attending a theater performance in Seoul and hobnobbing over dinner and drinks with the actors.

His office has said the holiday was planned before Ms Pelosi’s agenda went public.

“I have received questions about whether the president avoided meeting with the House speaker because he was wary of China,” his spokesperson told The Washington Post. “All these things are decided based on a thorough consideration of our country’s national interest.”

The two spoke by phone instead.

Some in the country have been critical of the perceived snub.

“Yoon’s avoidance of Pelosi meeting may send wrong signals to the U.S. and China,” the Chosun Ilbo newspaper argued in an editorial, warning of a “submissive attitude” towards Xi Jinping .

China fired ballistic missiles during unprecedented military drills around Taiwan on Thursday, in response to Nancy Pelosi’s controversial visit to Taipei, the self-ruled island that Beijing regards as its sovereign territory.

Taiwanese officials condemned the excercises as “irresponsible, illegitimate behaviour”, and cancelled flights to China.