US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Friday that the United States will "not allow" China to isolate Taiwan, after her visit to the self-ruled island infuriated Beijing.

China, which views Taiwan as part of its territory, launched its largest-ever military exercises around the island after Pelosi defied stern threats to become the highest-profile US official to set foot on Taiwanese soil in years.

Now in Tokyo on the final leg of her Asian tour, Pelosi did not comment directly on the drills but argued that American politicians should be able to travel to Taiwan freely.

"They may try to keep Taiwan from visiting or participating in other places, but they will not isolate Taiwan by preventing us to travel there," she told reporters.

"We will not allow them to isolate Taiwan," she said, listing lower-level US visits to the island and reiterating that her trip was "not about changing the status quo" in the region.

"It is about... all of the pieces of legislation and agreements that have established what our relationship is. To have peace in the Taiwan Strait and have the status quo prevail."

When asked if the trip was more about her own legacy than benefiting Taiwan, Pelosi replied: "This isn't about me -- it's about them."

She called the island "one of the freest countries in the world" and "a great democracy with a thriving economy", saying she was "proud" of her work showcasing concerns related to mainland China, from alleged trade violations and arms proliferation to human rights.

- Ballistic missiles -

The 82-year-old American politician arrived on Thursday from South Korea, another key US ally, where she visited the border with the nuclear-armed North.

It is her first time in Japan since 2015, and on Friday morning she met Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who said Japan had "called for the immediate cancellation of the military drills".

Tokyo said five Chinese ballistic missiles were believed to have fallen in Japan's exclusive economic zone, with four of those presumed to have flown over Taiwan's main island.

Kishida condemned the missile launches as a "serious problem that impacts our national security and the safety of our citizens".

Parts of Japan's southernmost Okinawa region are close to Taiwan, as are islets at the centre of a long-running dispute between Tokyo and Beijing.

The EEZ extends up to 200 nautical miles from Japan's coastline, beyond the limits of its territorial waters.

In May, US President Joe Biden also angered Beijing on a visit to Japan, when he said US forces would defend Taiwan militarily if China attempted to take control of the island by force.

However, Biden and his team insisted at the time that their decades-old approach to Taiwan remained in place.

This means support for its government while diplomatically recognising Beijing over Taipei, and opposing a formal independence declaration by Taiwan or a forceful takeover by China.

On Friday, Pelosi said the United States wanted to find "common ground" with China on issues from rights to climate change.

"If we do not speak out for human rights in China because of commercial interests, we lose all moral authority to speak about human rights any place in the world," she said.

"Again, it isn't about our visit determining what the US-China relationship is. It's a much bigger and longer-term challenge, and one that we have to recognize that we have to work together in certain areas."

Radio warnings signal Taiwan angst over China blockade drills
Keelung, Taiwan (AFP) Aug 4, 2022 - In Taiwan's Keelung port dispatchers spent much of Thursday broadcasting warnings to fishing boats heading north, reminding them that China's military was conducting live-fire drills nearby.

"This is the Keelung radio station," the radio system crackled. "China's People's Liberation Army will conduct military exercises from August 4th at noon..."

The warnings, at the top of every hour, were a stark reminder that Taiwan's 23 million inhabitants live under the constant threat of invasion -- a danger that has intensified under China's current leader Xi Jinping.

Throughout the day, dispatchers received calls from Taiwan's navy detailing which vessels were heading too close to the multiple danger zones China declared around the island.

They would then scramble to contact individual vessels and warn them off.

"We have had to continuously warn 10-20 boats by radio to leave and stay away," Huang Li-yue, the 61-year-old chief of Keelung fishing fleet radio station, told AFP.

"There are also enquires from boats about the locations of exercise areas."

Huang said she remembered the last time this happened.

In 1995, China began test-firing missiles in the waters around Taiwan, to protest a visit by then president Lee Teng-hui to his alma mater university in the United States.

Further missile tests were carried out a year later as Taiwan held its first direct presidential election.

But China's latest drills -- a protest against this week's visit to Taiwan by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi -- were much closer to the shoreline.

"The tension during the previous 1995-96 crisis was high too, but this time it is happening in Taiwan's surrounding waters," Huang said.

- 'Not much we can do' -

China's Communist Party has never controlled Taiwan, but it regards the island as part of its territory and has vowed to one day take it.

Beijing has ramped up its sabre-rattling ever since Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen came to power in 2016, as she views the island as a sovereign nation and not a part of China.

Taiwan's people have long had to get used to threats and spikes in tension that are far outside their control, exemplified by China's latest drills which have encircled the island.

Chen Wen-ching, executive secretary of the Keelung Fishermen's Association, said many members were unhappy about being unable to work during what is peak season.

"But there's not much we can do. They (China) do what they want," he told AFP.

"Life is more important. You can make money later. Leave the area is what's most important."

Chou Ting-tai, 68, returned from fishing for squid in Taiwan's northern waters shortly before the Chinese drills started around noon.

"We can avoid the areas but psychologically there's still some stress, right? What if something went wrong with their aim and it went astray?" he said.

In nearby Taipei, many residents said they needed to get on with their daily lives unfazed by China's fresh show of force.

"I think China is bluffing and it is trying to shift the attention on its domestic and economic woes by staging the military exercises around Taiwan," said 22-year-old Leo Chung, after serving a string of lunchtime customers at his family's small restaurant.

Shopkeeper Wang Yi-ting, 40, said she was hopeful that Taiwan's allies, such as the United States and Japan, would ultimately intervene if China ever attacked for real.

"Although Taiwan is very small we have a place on the world stage," Wang said.

But Karen Hsueh, 60, fretted that Taiwan was just a helpless pawn in a struggle between two far stronger powers.

"I think China cannot afford to look weak and it has to take actions to show it is not afraid of the United States," the shopkeeper told AFP.

"Frankly I am more worried about China punishing Taiwan with economic means. I think Taiwan is the victim in the confrontation between China and the United States."

Related Links
Taiwan News at SinoDaily.com

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China fires missiles around Taiwan, sparking US condemnation
Pingtan, China (AFP) Aug 4, 2022
China fired ballistic missiles and deployed fighter jets Thursday as it held its largest-ever military exercises around Taiwan, a show of force condemned by Washington as a gross overreaction to Nancy Pelosi's visit to the island. The US House speaker was the highest-profile US official to visit Taiwan in years, defying a series of stark threats from Beijing, which views the self-ruled island as its territory. In retaliation, China launched a series of exercises in multiple zones around Taiwan, ... read more