BEIJING (AP) \u2014 China said it was conducting military exercises Saturday off its coast opposite Taiwan after warning\u00a0Speaker Nancy Pelosi\u00a0of the U.S. House of Representatives to scrap possible plans to visit the island democracy, which Beijing claims as part of its territory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The ruling Communist Party\u2019s military wing, the People\u2019s Liberation Army, was conducting \u201clive-fire exercises\u201d near the Pingtan islands off Fujian province from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m., the official Xinhua News Agency said. The Maritime Safety Administration warned ships to avoid the area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Such exercises usually involve artillery. The one-sentence announcement gave no indication whether Saturday\u2019s exercise also might include missiles, fighter planes or other weapons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pelosi, who would be the\u00a0highest-ranking American elected official\u00a0to visit Taiwan since 1997, has yet to confirm whether she will go. President Xi Jinping warned his U.S. counterpart, Joe Biden, in a phone call Thursday against \u201cexternal interference\u201d in Beijing\u2019s dealings with the island.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
China says Taiwan has no right to conduct foreign relations. It sees visits by American officials as encouragement for the island to make its decades-old de facto independence official.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Ministry of Defense warned Washington this week not to allow Pelosi, who is Biden\u2019s equal in rank as leader of one of three branches of government, to visit Taiwan. A spokesman said the PLA would take unspecified \u201cstrong measures\u201d to stop pro-independence activity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The PLA has flown growing numbers of fighter planes and bombers near Taiwan and has in the past fired missiles into shipping lanes to the island.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Taiwan and China split in 1949 after a civil war that ended with a communist victory on the mainland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The two governments say they are one country but disagree over which is entitled to national leadership. They have no official relations but are linked by billions of dollars in trade and investment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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