China using my Taiwan visit as 'an excuse' for military drills: Nancy Pelosi

Tokyo, Aug 05: US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Friday said China made the missile strikes using her Taiwan visit as "an excuse" and she reiterated that the US supports peace and the status quo in Taiwan.

"Our representation here isn't about changing status quo here in Asia, of Taiwan. It's about Taiwan Relations Act, US-China policy, all pieces of legislation and agreements that established our relationship-have peace in Taiwan Straits and have status quo prevail," Pelosi told reporters in Japan.

"The Chinese made their strikes, probably using our visit as an excuse. They've tried to isolate Taiwan, keeping them most recently from World Health Organisation by not even letting their participation beyond their agency of World Health Agency that makes these determinations," she added.

In a show of strength, China is deploying its aircraft carrier group and a nuclear submarine in large-scale military drills in the Taiwan Strait in response to US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's high-stakes visit to Taipei which infuriated Beijing as it claims the island as part of its territory.

The four-day military exercises were being held a day after Pelosi's visit. China, which claims Taiwan as part of its mainland, strongly objected to her visit.

Meanwhile, Taiwan is grappling with how to respond to the Chinese drones. Military observers said trying to shoot them down increased the risk of a conflict with Beijing as tensions rose following Pelosi's visit on Tuesday, Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported.

On the other hand, they are believed to have been used to gather intelligence about Taiwan's military strength and preparedness on the island, which is just 3.2 kilometres from the mainland city of Xiamen, and a failure to act could encourage more operations in future, the report said.

The PLA drones were spotted flying over Quemoy, which is also known as Kinmen, on Wednesday night - hours after Pelosi left Taipei for South Korea as part of her Asia tour and the night before a series of live-fire exercises around the coast of Taiwan island started.