蜜芽传媒

China is beginning large military exercises in the waters around Taiwan, following senior US politician Nancy Pelosi's trip to the island.

The drills are due to take place in several areas within 12 miles of the island. Taiwan says it faced "deliberately heightened military threats".

Taiwan is a self-governing democracy, but China sees Taiwan as a breakaway province.

A joint statement by G7 countries criticised the military exercises as being without justification, but some in the United States had warned prior to Nancy Pelosi's trip, that it could heighten tensions.

Meia Nouwens is a Senior Fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

She discussed the diplomatic implications of Ms Pelosi's time in Taiwan with Newsday.

She began by explaining how Chinese media have been reporting on the military drills, "They said that there will be air and naval light fire drills around Taiwan in six different areas around Taiwan, looking at a map, they correlate quite neatly with some of Taiwan's major air and naval basis, so either operating directly across them, or near to them. And of course, also in correlation with Taiwan's major ports, and airports as well".

(Photo by HECTOR RETAMAL/AFP via Getty Images)

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