America watches China closely as it conducts missile military exercises near Taiwan

China launched missiles at the largest military exercise in Taiwan's Strait, keeping tensions with Taiwan high, a day after United States House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited the island. International media also reported cyberattacks in Taiwan that had a clear message against Mrs. Pelosi's visit. Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken declared today that they would not accept the change in Taiwan's status.

China threw missiles around Taiwan as part of military exercises, a day after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to the self-government island that Beijing considers part of his territory.

Training in Taiwan's Strait included rocket launching in the waters north, south, and east of the island, bringing tensions to the area at its highest level in a quarter century.

Taiwan's Defence Ministry said 11 Chinese ballistic missiles had been thrown into the waters around the island. The last time China launched missiles in the waters around Taiwan was in 1996.

On Wednesday, several Taiwanese officials reported a large number of cyberattacks that have paralysed the services of websites belonging to the office of Taiwan's president, foreign and defence ministries, while train stations have had clear messages against Mrs. Pelosi's visit to Taiwan.

Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, who is in Cambodia for a meeting of the South East Asian Nations Society, A. SEAN said Washington has not changed politics against Taiwan or China.

We reject any unilateral efforts to change the status quo, especially by force. We remain committed to the politics of a China and I want to underline that nothing has changed from our stance, and I hope very much that Beijing will not create a crisis or seek a pretext to increase its aggressive military activity”, said Mr. Blinken.

Michael O'Hanlon of the Brookings Institute says China sees Mrs. Pelosi's visit to Taiwan as provocation.

When Taiwan welcomes the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the third-highest American official, then this, in China's mind, seems dangerously approaching the restoration of diplomatic relations or at least some kind of report that seems like diplomatic relations, which naturally implies that the United States is treating Taiwan as a state”, says Mr. OCEHanlon.

Mrs. Pelosi continued her Asian tour with a stop in South Korea, where she reportedly did not mention her visit to Taiwan.

She met with her South Korean counterpart, who has talked to her about economic co-operation and risk from the North Korean nuclear programme. Then she went to Japan.