TAIPEI, Aug 6 (Reuters) - Chinese aircraft and warships practised on Saturday for an attack on Taiwan, island officials said, in retaliation for a visit there by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that also saw Beijing halt dialogue with the United States in several areas.
Pelosi's brief unannounced visit during the week to the self-ruled island claimed by China infuriated Beijing and has prompted unprecedented military drills that have included ballistic missiles fired over the capital, Taipei.
The Chinese exercises are scheduled to last until midday on Sunday.
On Saturday morning, Taiwan's defence ministry said multiple Chinese ships and planes conducted missions in the Taiwan Strait, with some crossing the median line, an unofficial buffer separating the two sides, movements that Taiwan's military believes were part of a simulation attack on the main Taiwan island.
Taiwan's army broadcast a warning and deployed air reconnaissance patrol forces and ships to monitor while putting shore-based missiles on stand-by.
Taiwan's defence ministry also said it fired flares late on Friday to warn away seven drones flying over its Kinmen islands and unidentified aircraft flying over its Matsu islands. Both island groups lie close to mainland China's southeastern coast.
Pelosi arrived in Taiwan late on Tuesday, the highest-level visit to the island by a U.S. official in decades, despite Chinese warnings, and it has promoted a flurry of retaliation, including sanctions against Pelosi herself.
Shortly after her delegation left Japan on Friday, the final stop of a week-long Asia tour, China announced that it was halting dialogue with the United States in a number of areas including between theatre-level military commanders and on climate change.
China's foreign ministry said it was also suspending exchanges on countering cross-border crime and drug trafficking. The United States called the response "irresponsible".
On Friday, the Eastern Theater Command of China's People's Liberation Army said it conducted air and sea drills to the north, southwest and east of Taiwan to test is forces' "joint combat capabilities".
