President Tsai has just awarded the Order of Propitious Clouds with Special Grand Cordon to the US House Speaker, draping a light blue sash over Mrs Pelosi.

The two leaders then bowed to each other.

President Tsai is now speaking. She has deeply thanked Pelosi for her attention to and "unwavering support" for Taiwan.

"Speaker Pelosi has long and deep-standing ties to Taiwan... Madame Speaker I must express my gratitude to you," she said.

The US House Speaker is now meeting Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen.

Taiwan's ruling party the DPP has praised the US House Speaker's visit. That's to be expected - Taiwan under President Tsai Ing-wen has felt increased pressure from Beijing ever since winning election in 2020. That victory alarmed Beijing because the DPP's platform is about maintaining and preserving Taiwan's sovereignty and distance from China.

The opposition KMT (Kuomingtang) - which has ruled Taiwan for much of the period since 1949 - leans towards eventual unification with the mainland. But it also issued a strong welcome to Pelosi last night.

During her remarks to Taiwan's parliament, Pelosi referenced her visit to Beijing's Tiananmen Square two years after the 1989 massacre of student demonstrators there.

"We were there specifically making a statement on human rights - our visit was about security issues... over the years its always been about security, economy and governance," she told the Taiwanese parliament's deputy speaker.

Here's footage she's tweeted in the past of that visit, external.

The US House Speaker is at parliament in Taipei at the moment, where she's held a public meeting with the deputy speaker Tsai Chi-Chang.She's expected to meet with Taiwan's president Tsai Ing-wen, followed by a lunch.

She's also due to meet with several civil society and business figures. Various media are reporting that she will meet with three prominent pro-democracy and rights activists in Taipei's Human Rights Park.

US media reported she was also due to meet with Mark Liu, the chairman of Taiwan's biggest semiconductor manufacturer TSMC.

A litany of Taiwanese goods and products are now being hit by China in response to Pelosi's visit.

This morning, China's Commerce Ministry has announced immediate bans on citrus fruit and two types of fish imports from Taiwan, as well as blocking sand exports to the island.

Yesterday it also sanctioned other goods - including biscuits and confectionary.

Taiwan has a deep economic relationship with China, which takes close to 30% of its exports and is its biggest trading partner.

Pelosi has been speaking in the Taiwanese parliament - she said she wanted to increase parliamentary exchanges between the US and Taiwan.

She also described Taiwan as "one of the freest societies in the world".

She also said a US bill on computer chips - which will see big US investment in domestic semiconductor manufacturing and science research - was a good opportunity for more cooperation with Taiwan.

Pelosi was received by vice president of the parliament, Tsai Chi-Chang.

Image source, Reuters

The US House Speaker has arrived at Taiwan's parliament, dressed in white.

She is expected to address lawmakers and has a meeting with President Tsai Ing-wen scheduled.

China regards Taiwan as a breakaway province which it has vowed to retake, by force if necessary.

But Taiwan's leaders say it is clearly much more than a province, arguing that it is a sovereign state.

It has its own constitution, democratically-elected leaders, and about 300,000 active troops in its armed forces.Chiang Kai-shek's Republic of China(ROC) government, which fled the mainland to Taiwan in 1949, at first claimed to represent the whole of China, which it intended to re-occupy.

Image source, .

It held China's seat on the United Nations Security Council and was recognised by many Western nations as the only Chinese government.

But in 1971, the UN switched diplomatic recognition to Beijing and the ROC government was forced out.

Since then the number of countries that recognise the ROC government diplomatically has fallen drastically to about 15.

Given the huge divide between these two positions, most other countries seem happy to accept the current ambiguity, whereby Taiwan has virtually all of the characteristics of an independent state, even if its legal status remains unclear.

More now on that diplomatic rebuke by China over Pelosi's visit.

During his talk with US ambassador Nicholas Burns, vice-foreign minister Xie Feng voiced "strong protests", according to Chinese state news agency Xinhua.

"The move is extremely egregious in nature and the consequences are extremely serious," he was quoted as saying.

He said the US would "pay the price for its own mistakes" and urged Washington to "immediately address its wrongdoings and take practical measures to undo the adverse effects caused by Pelosi's visit to Taiwan", Xinhua reported.

Image source, Getty Images

Republican Senator Dan Sullivan has become the latest of Nancy Pelosi's political opponents to support her trip to Taiwan.

"You do not want the Chinese Communist Party dictating to senior American leaders where they can and cannot travel," he told a news conference.

"My view - and I think the view of a number of senators - is that we should close ranks now and not let the Chinese Communist Party try to drive wedges between American elected officials or the White House on whether or not she should be there.

"She's there, we're supporting the trip and we're closing ranks behind her."

Image source, AFP

China's foreign ministry has summoned the US ambassador to Beijing, Nicholas Burns, to protest against Nancy Pelosi's trip to Taiwan.

The Chinese vice-foreign minister, Xie Feng, said the nature of Pelosi's visit was "vicious" and warned of grave consequences. He said China would not sit idly by.

Pelosi, who arrived in Taiwan late on Tuesday, is expected to hold meetings with the president and parliament. She said she wanted to honour America's "unwavering commitment to supporting Taiwan's vibrant democracy".

Pelosi is not the first US Speaker of the House to visit Taiwan, and she's also not the only US lawmaker to travel there this year.

In 1997, Republican Speaker Newt Gingrich visited the island territory shortly after making a trip to meet with the Chinese leader in Beijing.

That trip, which came as China was preparing to take control of Hong Kong, was met with some resistance from China, but far less than the resistance to Pelosi's trip.

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.

The US formally does not have relations with Taiwan. But the island territory is considered an important trade partner to the US and the US also provides its government with US-made weapons.

Nancy Pelosi has arrived in Taiwan - making her the most senior US politician in 25 years to visit the island that China claims as its own.

Stick with us and we'll bring you the latest updates from the visit.

We're pausing our live coverage of Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan.

It's been a busy one, so let's have a quick recap:

• China has condemned Pelosi's visit as a "serious violation", and its army will conduct live fire exercises starting from Wednesday
• Russia has called the visit a "clear provocation", adding that China has the right to take action to "protect its sovereignty"
• In a White House briefing, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said China's response was in line with their usual playbook, but added the US would not engage in "sabre-rattling"
• He added there was no need to turn the visit into a crisis or conflict - the US remains against Taiwan's independence
• President Biden has not said he agrees with Pelosi's visit, but he "respects it", according to Kirby

Our live page was brought to you by Catherine Evans, George Wright, Phelan Chatterjee, Nadeem Shad, Claire Heald, Claudia Allen and Nathan Williams.

Image source, Getty Images

Taiwan's Ministry of National Defence says that 21 Chinese aircraft entered Taiwan's Air Defence Identification Zone (ADIZ) on Tuesday.

Aircraft involved in the incursion include 10 Shenyang J-16s, one of China's advanced fighter jets.

It's not uncommon for China to send aircraft into Taiwan's ADIZ.

On Monday, four aircraft entered the zone.

An air defence identification zone is an area outside of a country's territory and national airspace but where foreign aircraft are still identified and monitored. It is self-declared and technically remains international airspace.

"We don't support Taiwan independence... we do support Taiwan's self-defence," says Kirby.

He says President Biden wants to keep the lines of communication open between the US and China.

He adds that Pelosi has already accomplished some important conversations on her trip regarding foreign policy ahead of her visit to Taiwan.

And that's it from the Pentagon spokesman's press briefing.

Asked if China's response was expected, Kirby says yes.

He says it's "consistent with the playbook that we expected them to run... we'll just keep watching".

When another journalist asks him if Taiwan will pay a steep price for Speaker of the House Pelosi's visit, he says: "There's no reason for that to happen".

He adds it's no reason to start "ramping up the tensions".

John Kirby's just been asked if President Biden supports Nancy Pelosi's decision to visit Taiwan.

He replies that Biden "respects" her decision.