Taiwan holds military drill after China repeats threats

TAIPEI: Taiwan´s army held another live-fire drill on Thursday after Beijing ended its largest-ever military exercises around the island and repeated threats to bring the self-ruled democracy under its control.

Beijing has raged at a trip to Taiwan last week by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi -- the highest-ranking elected American official to visit in decades -- staging days of air and sea drills that raised tensions to their highest level in years.

Taiwan has accused China of using the Pelosi visit as an excuse to kickstart drills that would allow it to rehearse for an invasion. Lou Woei-jye, spokesman for Taiwan´s Eighth Army Corps, told AFP its forces fired howitzers and target flares as part of the defensive drill on Thursday.