White House spokesman John Kirby said: China chose to overreact and use the speaker’s visit as a pretext to increase provocative military activity in and around the Taiwan Strait. The temperature is quite high,” he added, but tensions “could go down very easily with the Chinese stopping these very aggressive military exercises,” he added. In an interview with MSNBC on Thursday, Kirby said, “We’re watching it very, very closely.” When asked if Pelosi’s trip triggered China’s military exercises, Kirby said: The provocateur here is Beijing. They should not have reacted in this way to what is a perfectly normal trip by members of Congress to Taiwan… It is the Chinese who are escalating this.” He also warned of the risk of miscalculation, saying: “One of the things that’s troubling about exercises like this or missile launches like this is the risk of miscalculation, the risk of a mistake that could actually lead to some kind of conflict. “ US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said Washington had reached out to Beijing “at every level of government” in recent days to ask for calm and stability. I very much hope that Beijing will not create a crisis or look for a pretext to increase its aggressive military activity,” Blinken told ministers of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) in Phnom Penh. Updated at 02.49 BST Important events Show only key events Please enable JavaScript to use this feature China’s former ambassador to the UK, Liu Xiaoming, made some bold claims against the G7 countries this morning. If the G7 countries really care about peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, they should have urged the US early on not to make such a dangerous, reckless and irresponsible provocation against China. Before Pelosi’s visit, these countries played dumb and didn’t say a word.” If the G7 countries really care about peace and stability in the #Taiwan Strait, they should have urged the #US early on not to make such a dangerous, reckless and irresponsible provocation against #China. Before #Pelosi’s visit, these countries played dumb and didn’t say a word. — 刘晓明Liu Xiaoming (@AmbLiuXiaoMing) August 5, 2022 Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen called on Beijing to “act with reason and exercise restraint”. With China starting military exercises in areas around Taiwan today, we call on Beijing to act sensibly and exercise restraint. Taiwan will not escalate the conflict, but we will resolutely defend our sovereignty, our security and our democracy.” With China starting military exercises in areas around Taiwan today, we call on Beijing to act sensibly and exercise restraint. Taiwan will not escalate the conflict, but we will resolutely defend our sovereignty, our security and our democracy.https://t.co/CXNli5bTWG — Interview Tsai Ing-wen (@iingwen) August 4,

The US warns that mistakes could lead to conflict

The United States has condemned China’s launch of 11 ballistic missiles around Taiwan during major military exercises as an overreaction to Nancy Pelosi’s visit to the island, urging Beijing to ease tensions. White House spokesman John Kirby said: China chose to overreact and use the speaker’s visit as a pretext to increase provocative military activity in and around the Taiwan Strait. The temperature is quite high,” he added, but tensions “could go down very easily with the Chinese stopping these very aggressive military exercises,” he added. In an interview with MSNBC on Thursday, Kirby said, “We’re watching it very, very closely.” When asked if Pelosi’s trip triggered China’s military exercises, Kirby said: The provocateur here is Beijing. They should not have reacted in this way to what is a perfectly normal trip by members of Congress to Taiwan… It is the Chinese who are escalating this.” He also warned of the risk of miscalculation, saying: “One of the things that’s troubling about exercises like this or missile launches like this is the risk of miscalculation, the risk of a mistake that could actually lead to some kind of conflict. “ US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said Washington had reached out to Beijing “at every level of government” in recent days to ask for calm and stability. I very much hope that Beijing will not create a crisis or look for a pretext to increase its aggressive military activity,” Blinken told ministers of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) in Phnom Penh. Updated at 02.49 BST

Chinese missiles ‘affect our national security’: Japan PM

Japan’s prime minister condemned China’s launch of ballistic missiles during military exercises around Taiwan, calling them a “serious problem affecting our national security and the safety of our citizens.” Five Chinese missiles appear to have landed in the country’s exclusive economic zone, Tokyo said, with four of them believed to have flown over the main island of Taiwan. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told reporters after meeting with US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi this morning: China’s actions this time have a serious impact on the peace and stability of our region and the international community. I told her that we asked for the immediate cancellation of the military exercises.” Pelosi is in Tokyo for the final leg of an Asian tour that included a stop in Taiwan, angering Beijing, which has launched its largest-ever military exercises around the self-ruled island in response. Tokyo has lodged a diplomatic protest with Beijing over the military drills, which began on Thursday. Parts of Japan’s southernmost region of Okinawa lie close to Taiwan, as are the islets at the center of a long-running dispute between Tokyo and Beijing. Japan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) extends up to 200 nautical miles from its coastline, beyond the limits of its territorial waters.

Summary and welcome

Hello and welcome back to the Guardian’s live coverage of China-Taiwan tensions. I’m Samantha Lock and I’ll be bringing you all the latest developments. It is 9 am in Beijing. Here’s everything you might have missed:

China is set to begin its second day of live-fire drills after launching massive military exercises in the air and seas around Taiwan on Thursday, including firing ballistic missiles near the island, some of which landed in Japanese waters. The drills, which included rockets, attack helicopters and artillery, were staged in response to a provocative visit to the island by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday. The US condemned the missile launches. “China chose to overreact and use the speaker’s visit as a pretext to increase provocative military activity in and around the Taiwan Strait,” White House spokesman John Kirby said. Kirby also warned about the risk of error and calculation of exercises, saying: “One of the things that is disturbing about exercises like this or missile launches like this is the risk of calculation, the risk of a mistake that could actually lead to kind of conflict”. US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said he “very much hopes that Beijing will not create a crisis or seek to fake its aggressive military action”. Foreign ministers from the 10-member ASEAN bloc, meeting in Cambodia this week, called for “maximum restraint”, without naming the US or China. It said in a statement that the situation could lead to “serious confrontation, open conflict and unforeseen consequences between major powers.” Japan said at least five of the 11 Dongfeng ballistic missiles landed in its exclusive economic zone, which stretches 200 nautical miles (370 kilometers) from Japan’s coast. Japan also speculates that four missiles flew over Taipei, the capital of Taiwan, according to a statement issued by the US embassy. Taiwan’s defense ministry said the missiles flew high into the atmosphere and posed no threat to the island. Taiwan’s leader, Tsai Ing-wen, urged Beijing to “act with reason and exercise restraint”, while maintaining that Taiwan will not escalate the conflict but will “resolutely defend our sovereignty, our security and our democracy”. . Foreign governments and multilateral groups, including the G7 and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have condemned the hostilities and called for calm. The drills were in unprecedented proximity to Taiwan and included incursions by PLA warplanes and navy ships over the median line of the Taiwan Strait – an unofficial border between China and Taiwan. Announcements of the exercises identified six areas encircling Taiwan, with warnings for all ships and aircraft to “not enter the relevant sea areas and airspace”. On Thursday, local media reported at the last minute the announcement of a seventh. Some of the zones overlap with Taiwan’s territorial waters and are located near key shipping ports. Several cyber-attacks also hit Taiwan, targeting websites of the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the presidential office. Taiwan’s affairs office in Beijing said the dispute was an internal matter. “Our punishment for Taiwan independence hardliners, foreign powers, is reasonable, legal,” he said.

China to begin second day of unprecedented live-fire drills China to begin second day of unprecedented live-fire drills