The Chinese government on Friday escalated its retaliatory response to U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s controversial visit to Taiwan earlier this week by suspending diplomatic ties on a number of key fronts, includingThe climate crisis, and canceling military coordination agreements with the United States.
According to the Associated Press:
These measures are part of a series of promised steps to punish the U.S. and others for allowing the US to visit the island it claims to be its territory. They will be annexed if necessary. China on Thursday launched threatening military exercises in six zones just off Taiwan’s coasts that it says will run through Sunday.
According to defense officials, missiles were also launched over Taiwan. China is a regular opponent of Taiwan’s self-governing island having its own contacts and foreign governments. However, its response to Pelosi’s visit was unusually vocal.
Additional to the suspension or cancellation of the high-level diplomatic channels, China’s Foreign Ministry also announced unspecified sanctions against Pelosi and her immediate family as punishment for the “egregious provocation” which Chinese officials had adamantly warned against.
“In disregard of China’s grave concerns and firm opposition, Pelosi insisted on visiting China’s Taiwan region,” the ministry said in a statement. “This constitutes a gross interference in China’s internal affairs.”
Pelosi’s meddling, the statement continued, “gravely undermines China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, seriously tramples on the one-China principle, and severely threatens peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.”
As Common Dreams reportedRegional experts and anti-war voices had repeatedly urged Pelosi not to make the trip during her Asia travels. They warned that a stop in Taipei would further damage the already strained relationship between Beijing and Taipei.
“A trip to Taiwan by the most powerful member of Congress undermines […] longstanding U.S. policy and increases the risk of another war,” said Marcy Winograd and Jim Carpenter, co-chairs of the foreign policy team for Progressive Democrats of America, in a statement ahead of Pelosi’s trip.
Following news of China’s actions on Friday, Medea Benjamin, co-founder of the anti-war group CodePink, offered exasperated sarcasm over the latest development.
“Way to go, Speaker Pelosi,” lamented Benjamin. “Your visit to Taiwan really helped global cooperation on critical issues like the environment. Not.”
