Beijing has made no secret of its fury at US Speaker Pelosi's visit to Taiwan. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and its foreign minister says the visit violates China's sovereignty.

Here is what China has done since it became apparent she was heading to the island:

• Just 16 minutes after Pelosi touched down on Tuesday night, China announced it would hold days-long military drills - which would include firing "long-range ammunition" - in the waters around Taiwan
• Beijing said those drills would begin on Thursday and has demanded foreign ships and aircraft not enter the zone during that period. The seas around Taiwan are busy shipping routes. Taiwan says China's actions amount to a blockade in breach of international law
• China has also retaliated with economic blows - blocking the trade of several key products between Taiwan and the mainland, and banning more than 100 Taiwanese food businesses
• It also blacklisted two Taiwan organisations it said were linked to the independence movement

• Beijing has also called in the US Ambassador to China

Let's step back a bit now, and look at some of the key points about Taiwan and its relations with China.

• Why do China and Taiwan have poor relations? The history of China and Taiwan is long and complex. They were divided during a civil war in the 1940s, but Beijing insists the island will be reclaimed at some point, by force if necessary
• How is Taiwan governed? The island has its own constitution, democratically elected leaders, and about 300,000 active troops in its armed forces
• Who recognises Taiwan? Only a few countries recognise Taiwan. Most recognise the Chinese government in Beijing instead. The US has no official ties with Taiwan but does have a law which requires it to provide the island with the means to defend itself.

You can read more about China Taiwan relations here.

Image source, .

Image source, Reuters

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has described Pelosi's visit to Taiwan as a show of US "entitlement" giving the impression that it can "do whatever it wants with impunity" - and has compared it to US support for Ukraine's defence against Russia.

Lavrov said it "reflects the line we have been talking about in relation to the Ukrainian situation".

"This is an ambition to prove to everyone their impunity and to show their entitlement: I can do whatever I want."

Russia and China's ties have expanded steadily in recent times. Ahead of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, China joined Russia in opposing further Nato expansion, and although China has not endorsed Russian operations in Ukraine, it has not condemned the war either.

South Korea said it would "maintain close communication" with all of the nations involved and urged "dialogue and co-operation".

Meanwhile Japan said it had expressed concerns to Beijing over its planned drills, which Tokyo said would be carried out in waters overlapping with theirs. Japan has islands near Taiwan.

"Considering the live-fire training nature of this military activity, Japan has expressed concerns to the Chinese side," Japanese cabinet secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said.

Meanwhile, North Korea, a staunch ally of China, blasted Pelosi's visit - describing it as American "impudent interference" in other countries' affairs.

Stephen McDonell
BBC News, China correspondent

The danger with escalation is that it is hard to pull back.

Now that US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has managed to visit Taiwan - the highest-ranking American official to do so in 25 years - won't others want to do the same in the future?

Now that China has held major live-fire exercises of such a scale, so close to Taiwan, why not do that again?

The biggest challenge perhaps for regional stability is that everyone's public position on Taiwan is ridiculous. It's like a giant game of pretend which is becoming harder to maintain.

China pretends that Taiwan is currently part of its territory, even though the island collects its own taxes, votes in its own government, issues its own passports and has its own military.

The US pretends it is not treating Taiwan as an independent country, even though it sells it high-tech weapons and, occasionally, a high-ranking politician visits on what looks very much like an official trip.

It's apparent that it would take nothing for this flimsy show, designed to guarantee the status quo, to fall apart.

Read more here.

While political progress has been slow, links between the two populations and economies, in China and in Taiwan, have grown sharply. Taiwanese companies have invested about $60bn (£40bn) in China, and up to one million Taiwanese people now live there, many running Taiwanese factories.

Officially, Taiwan's ruling DPP still favours eventual formal independence for Taiwan, while the opposition KMT favours eventual unification with China.

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Last year, a poll commissioned by the Taiwanese government showed the majority of Taiwanese supported the DPP government's approach in "safeguarding national sovereignty".

More and more people also say they feel Taiwanese, rather than Chinese.

In the 2020 election, Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen won a record-breaking 8.2 million votes, widely seen as a snub to Beijing.

Read more here.

Peter Hoskins
Business reporter, BBC News Singapore

Taiwan says China's drills amount to a blockade - and spiralling tensions could have a knock-on effect on products around the world.

That’s because Taiwan-made computer chips power everything from smartphones to cars and watches to fridges.

The island is where some of the world’s biggest technology companies go to get semiconductors made.Taiwan dominates the market for chip foundries, or outsourced semiconductor manufacturing.

Last year, the country’s contract semiconductor makers accounted for more than 60% of the world’s total chip foundry revenue.

And setting up chip manufacturing plants is no simple task – it takes time, a skilled workforce and money.

For example, at the end of last year Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) - which dominates the global market and has tech giants including Apple, Qualcomm and Nvidia as customers - said it would open a new factory in Phoenix, Arizona.

However, the plant is not expected to start operations until 2024 and will cost around $12bn(£9.8bn).

Image source, Pool

At a joint news conference a short time ago Pelosi played down the controversy around her visit to Taiwan and said Beijing had not responded similarly when other US legislators visited earlier this year.

"I just hope it's really clear that - while China has stood in the way of Taiwan participating and going to certain meetings - that they understand they will not stand in the way of people coming to Taiwan as a show of friendship and support, and also a source of learning," she said

"I think they made a big fuss because I'm Speaker - I don't know whether that's the reason or an excuse. Because they didn't say anything when the men came."

In April, six top US lawmakers made a surprise visit to Taiwan. The cross-party delegation included Democratic Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Menendez and Republican Senator Lindsey Graham.

Image source, Reuters

It's about 1300 in Taipei after a whirlwind morning of diplomacy with US Speaker Nancy Pelosi visiting parliament, meeting President Tsai Ing-wen and then answering press questions on a visit that has sparked fury in Beijing.

Here's what's been happening:

• Pelosi said US support to Taiwan was "crucial" and America’s "determination to preserve democracy here in Taiwan… remains iron clad”
• Tsai gave her one of Taiwan's top civilian honours - the Order of Propitious Clouds - as a symbol of gratitude for US support
• She described Pelosi as “deeply inspiring” figure who had long defended freedom and rights
• Meanwhile China has stepped up its economic retaliation to Pelosi's visit - announcing a flurry of bans and sanctions on Taiwanese imports and businesses this morning
• That follows its military reaction yesterday - where it declared it would hold four days of live military drills in the seas around Taiwan beginning Thursday
• Taiwan's defence ministry says this is effectively a blockade of the island's air and sea space - as China has demanded no foreign ships or aircraft enter its zones during those drills
• Pelosi is set to meet with Taiwanese activists and business figures this afternoon before flying out

Wednesday's live page has been written by Frances Mao and Melissa Zhu in Singapore

TV screens at multiple 7-Eleven stores in Taiwan were hacked to display the words "Warmonger Pelosi get out of Taiwan", according to local media reports.

In some videos posted on social media, convenience store staff are shown turning the screens off.

The company told news outlets that the screens had received interference from "unknown sources". They have sought repairs immediately and stores are operating normally, 7-Eleven said.

Peter Hoskins
Business reporter, BBC News Singapore

Stocks across Asia were trading higher on Wednesday as a signal that more US interest rate hikes were on the way outweighed concerns about House speaker Nancy Pelosi’s trip to Taiwan.

Remarks by an official that the Federal Reserve was "nowhere near done" with its fight against inflation appeared to prompt a sell-off in US Treasuries.

That helped to buoy share prices as investors moved money away from bonds.

By lunchtime Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was up by 0.6%, the Nikkei in Japan was 0.4% higher and stocks in Shanghai edge up 0.4%.

It comes as traders struggle to predict whether Beijing’s reaction to Ms Pelosi's visit to Taipei will have a significant impact on financial markets.

On China's Twitter-like platform Weibo, the top searches are all related to Pelosi's Taiwan trip.

As of noon on Wednesday, some of the popular topics were related to the Chinese military's planned military operations around Taiwan (1.92 billion views) and people in Taipei reportedly shouting at Pelosi to go back in a small anti-visit demonstration (1.28 billion views).

There was also strong interest in China suspending exports of natural sand - an important material for construction - with 850 million people viewing the topic.

Many of the comments online had a nationalistic flavour, expressing anger at Pelosi's visit, although some were more nuanced, cautioning against any eventual conflict and the casualties it would bring.

China's social media is heavily moderated. Some mainland users reported that their access to Weibo was blocked from Tuesday night before Pelosi flew into Taiwan, and resumed on Wednesday morning. The platform also abruptly suspended services in Taiwan on Monday.

Taiwan's government has just issued strong condemnation of China's plans for live fire drills in locations around the island - Beijing's main response to Pelosi's visit.

Such drills "have invaded Taiwan's territorial space" and "amount to a blockade of Taiwan's air and sea space", the military said.

Our China correspondent Stephen McDonell has tweeted a map published by state media showing the locations of China's planned drills, which are due to take place between Thursday and Sunday, after Nancy Pelosi has left.

President Tsai has also criticised the drills, saying they are an unnecessary reaction and Taiwan was committed to maintaining the status quo across the Taiwan Strait.

Taiwan's Defence Ministry said its military would "counter any move that violated Taiwan's territorial sovereignty".

Beijing says foreign aircraft or ships should not enter the area while their drills are underway.

Taiwan argues this is in breach of international law and global trade and shipping rules.

Shortly before Mrs Pelosi met with President Tsai, Taiwan's cabinet announced that the island's military had stepped up their alertness level.

Authorities would enact plans to "ensure safety and stability around the island" - a response to China's announcement to hold three days of military drills encircling the island beginning Thursday.

The Taiwanese cabinet added that citizens should feel reassured in their security.

Image source, POOL

The Order of Propitious Clouds is a Taiwanese civilian honour and the Special Grand Cordon is the award's top rank.

President Tsai said she was awarding it to Pelosi to thank the US for its support.

Pelosi said she was honoured to accept on behalf of the US government.

"We are so proud of your leadership; a woman president in one of the freest societies in the world. It was with immense admiration for your leadership and great personal humility that I accept this award," Pelosi said

President Tsai Ing-wen in her speech had stressed how her island was ramping up its defence capacities, and would "hold the line of defence" for democracies in the region. The US has been the bedrock security partner for many liberal countries in the Asia-Pacific since the end of WW2.

Pelosi in her response said the US and Taiwan had built a "thriving partnership" based on "shared values".

She said Democrats and Republicans were united in their support for Taiwan.

Pelosi told the gathering at the presidential palace: "Today our delegation, of which I'm very proud, came to Taiwan to make unequivocally clear that we will not abandon our commitment to Taiwan and we are proud of our enduring friendship.

"Now, more than ever, America's solidarity with Taiwan is crucial. And that is the message we are bringing here today."

Image source, Taiwanese State TV

Their meeting at the presidential palace is being broadcast live on local media. Speaker Pelosi is now addressing the room .

After thanking Pelosi and calling her "one of Taiwan's most devoted friends", President Tsai referenced Russia's invasion of Ukraine earlier this year.

She said Russia's invasion of Ukraine has made security in the Taiwan Strait another focus of worldwide attention.

"Aggressions against democratic Taiwan would have a tremendous impact on the security of the entire Indo-Pacific," she said.

"Taiwan will not back down. We will firmly uphold our national sovereignty and continue to hold the line of defence for our global security," she added.