China says it has completed nearly a week of military drills around Taiwan following the visit of US politician Nancy Pelosi to the self-governing island.
The sea and air operations were successful, said China’s military, which vowed to continue patrolling the Taiwan Strait. Ms Pelosi’s brief visit angered Beijing, which views Taiwan as a separate province to be reunited with the mainland – by force if necessary.
Taiwan has accused China of using the exercise as a prelude to aggression.
The island’s government rejects claims to Chinese sovereignty and considers itself separate from the mainland. Beijing wants to isolate the island internationally. House Speaker Pelosi, the highest-ranking US official to land in Taiwan since the 1990s, defied warnings from China last week, fueling tensions.
Anti-submarine attacks and sea raid rehearsals followed four days of live-fire exercises as part of China’s furious response.
The People’s Liberation Army statement promised to keep conducting “regular combat readiness patrols” in the Taiwan Strait. Taiwan’s defence ministry said 36 Chinese military aircraft and 10 ships were still operating around the strait on Wednesday.
On Wednesday, China’s Taiwan Affairs office refused to rule out the use of force to retake the island.
“We will only be forced to take drastic measures to respond to the provocation of separatist elements or external forces should they ever cross our red lines,” said it first white paper on Taiwan in more than 20 years.
The policy document omitted a past promise not to send troops or administrators to Taiwan if it’s taken back – a sign that Beijing intends less autonomy for the island than previously promised.
Recent polls show that an overwhelming majority of people in Taiwan, a democracy with free media, oppose any unification with Communist-ruled China.