THE China announced this Friday (05) eight measures in protest for the trip of the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, The Taiwan, including the suspension of bilateral cooperation in several areas.
The Chinese suspended cooperation on repatriation of illegal immigrants, criminal judicial assistance, drug control, combating transnational crime and talks on the two countries’ fight against climate change.
The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs also reported the cancellation of telephone calls between the leaders of the military commands and of the working meetings between the Defense portfolios of the two powers and those of the Military Maritime Security Consultation Mechanism.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry also announced sanctions against Pelosi and her next of kin for “disregarding China’s concern and strong opposition” to her trip to Taiwan and for “undermining the sovereignty and territorial integrity” of the Asian country.
The ministry did not give specific details about the sanctions, but accused Pelosi, who visited Taiwan last Wednesday, despite Beijing’s protests, of “interfering in China’s internal affairs” and “threatening peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait”.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Friday that China’s military exercises against Taiwan, including missiles fired at Japan’s exclusive economic zone, represent a “significant escalation” and that he urged Beijing that retreat.
Blinken also stressed that Pelosi’s visit was peaceful and did not represent a change in US policy towards Taiwan, accusing China of using it as “a pretext to increase provocative military activity in and around the Taiwan Strait”.
Last week, when Pelosi’s visit was just a possibility raised by the American press, the presidents of China and the US, Xi Jinping and Joe Biden, had a telephone conversation in which the Chinese leader asked the American to “not play with fire”. in Taiwan.
In the past 48 hours, China, which has called Pelosi’s trip a “sham” and a “deplorable betrayal”, has responded with large-scale military exercises in the Taiwan Strait and economic sanctions against some products from the island.
The military maneuvers, which included live fire and the launch of long-range missiles, were described on Friday by Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen as “an irresponsible act”.
China claims sovereignty over Taiwan and has considered it a rebellious province since the nationalist Kuomintang party, which was in power in Beijing, settled on the island in 1949 after losing the civil war against the communists.
Taiwan is also a major bone of contention between China and the United States, especially as Washington is the island’s main arms supplier and would be its biggest military ally in the event of a war with Beijing.
