<p>US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi will meet Japanese officials in Tokyo on Friday, following a visit to Taiwan that Beijing answered with unprecedented military drills and missile launches including five that landed within Japan's exclusive economic zone.</p>.<p>Pelosi's brief trip to Taiwan, where she arrived unannounced with a congressional delegation late on Tuesday and left on Wednesday, marked the highest-level US visit to the self-ruled island, which China claims as its own, in 25 years.</p>.<p>It also came as Tokyo, one of Washington's closest allies, has been increasingly alarmed about China's growing might in the Indo-Pacific and the possibility that Beijing could take military action against Taiwan.</p>.<p>Pelosi lauded Taiwan's democracy and pledged American solidarity. Beijing responded with military drills that a state broadcaster said would be the largest by China in the Taiwan Strait, including live firing on the waters and in the airspace around the island.</p>.<p>Five missiles landed in Japan's exclusive economic zone (EEZ), prompting Tokyo to lodge a strong protest through economic channels.</p>.<p>Japan, whose southernmost islands are closer to Taiwan than Tokyo, has warned that Chinese intimidation of Taiwan is an escalating national security threat.</p>.<p>Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has also pledged to double military spending to 2 per cent of GDP.</p>.<p>Tensions between Japan and China ramped up a notch on Thursday when China announced that a meeting between the two nations' foreign ministers, set to take place on the sidelines of an ASEAN meeting in Cambodia, had been called off due to its displeasure with a G7 statement urging Beijing to resolve Taiwan tension peacefully.</p>.<p>Pelosi arrived in Japan following a visit to South Korea on Thursday, where she vowed support to denuclearise North Korea.</p>.<p>In Tokyo, she and Kishida met for discussions on Friday morning. She is also expected to meet her Japanese counterpart Hiroyuki Hosoda, speaker of the more powerful lower house of parliament.</p>.<p>While visiting Japan in May, US President Joe Biden said he would be willing to use force to defend Taiwan - a comment that appeared to stretch the limits of the US policy of "strategic ambiguity" towards the island.</p>
<p>US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi will meet Japanese officials in Tokyo on Friday, following a visit to Taiwan that Beijing answered with unprecedented military drills and missile launches including five that landed within Japan's exclusive economic zone.</p>.<p>Pelosi's brief trip to Taiwan, where she arrived unannounced with a congressional delegation late on Tuesday and left on Wednesday, marked the highest-level US visit to the self-ruled island, which China claims as its own, in 25 years.</p>.<p>It also came as Tokyo, one of Washington's closest allies, has been increasingly alarmed about China's growing might in the Indo-Pacific and the possibility that Beijing could take military action against Taiwan.</p>.<p>Pelosi lauded Taiwan's democracy and pledged American solidarity. Beijing responded with military drills that a state broadcaster said would be the largest by China in the Taiwan Strait, including live firing on the waters and in the airspace around the island.</p>.<p>Five missiles landed in Japan's exclusive economic zone (EEZ), prompting Tokyo to lodge a strong protest through economic channels.</p>.<p>Japan, whose southernmost islands are closer to Taiwan than Tokyo, has warned that Chinese intimidation of Taiwan is an escalating national security threat.</p>.<p>Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has also pledged to double military spending to 2 per cent of GDP.</p>.<p>Tensions between Japan and China ramped up a notch on Thursday when China announced that a meeting between the two nations' foreign ministers, set to take place on the sidelines of an ASEAN meeting in Cambodia, had been called off due to its displeasure with a G7 statement urging Beijing to resolve Taiwan tension peacefully.</p>.<p>Pelosi arrived in Japan following a visit to South Korea on Thursday, where she vowed support to denuclearise North Korea.</p>.<p>In Tokyo, she and Kishida met for discussions on Friday morning. She is also expected to meet her Japanese counterpart Hiroyuki Hosoda, speaker of the more powerful lower house of parliament.</p>.<p>While visiting Japan in May, US President Joe Biden said he would be willing to use force to defend Taiwan - a comment that appeared to stretch the limits of the US policy of "strategic ambiguity" towards the island.</p>