The Chinese military today announced the end of its exercises in the areas around Taiwan, which they started last week in response to the visit of the Speaker of the House of Representatives of the US Congress, Nancy Pelosi, to the island, the Japanese Kyodo media reported today, citing BTA.

The Chinese People's Liberation Army's Eastern Military District Command said in a statement that it would continue to monitor the Taiwan Strait and conduct regular patrols in the waters around the island.

About 20 Chinese and Taiwanese warships now remain near the median line, an unofficial buffer zone separating China and Taiwan in the Taiwan Strait, the source said.

As part of Beijing's sharp response to Pelosi's visit to Taiwan, the Chinese military conducted a series of drills in six areas around the island that included the launch of ballistic missiles and repeated passes by Chinese vessels and warplanes across the median line separating the two countries.

Meanwhile, China has withdrawn its pledge not to send troops or administration to Taiwan if it takes control of the island, an official document released today showed.

The actions described signal a decision by Chinese President Xi Jinping to grant less autonomy to the island than previously offered.

China had said in two previous reports on Taiwan - in 1993 and 2000 - that Beijing would not send soldiers or administrative officials to be based in Taiwan after it achieves what Beijing calls reunification.

But in today's new report, the text describing the guarantee of Taiwan's autonomy as a special administrative region of China was not mentioned.

The ruling Chinese Communist Party has proposed that Taiwan return to Chinese rule under the "one country, two systems" model, which is similar to the formula by which the former British colony of Hong Kong returned to Chinese rule in 1997.

This model of governance could offer a democratically-ruled Taiwan some autonomy, with the partial preservation of its social and political system.

All of Taiwan's main political parties have rejected the "one country, two systems" proposal, which according to polls on the island enjoys little public support.

Text from China's 2000 report on Taiwan, which said "anything can be negotiated" as long as Taiwan accepts there is only one China and does not seek independence, was also missing from Beijing's official document released today.

Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council condemned the report, saying it was "full of lies", "ignored the facts" and that the Republic of China - Taiwan's official name - is a sovereign state.

"Only the 23 million Taiwanese citizens have the right to decide the future of Taiwan, and they will never approve of an outcome imposed by an autocratic regime," the Council said.

Taiwan has accused China of preparing for an invasion

The updated Chinese report is titled "The Taiwan Question and Chinese Reunification in the New Era."

The term "new era" often refers to the rule of Xi Jinping.

China's current president is expected to get a third term as Communist Party leader later this year.

Taiwan has lived under the threat of Chinese invasion since 1949, when the defeated government of the Republic of China fled to the island after Mao Zedong's Communist Party won the civil war.