China Sanctions Nancy Pelosi Over Taiwan Visit

Chinese officials have announced unspecified sanctions on US house speaker Nancy Pelosi over her visit to Taiwan earlier this week.

A Chinese foreign ministry statement said that Ms. Pelosi had disregarded China’s concerns and resolute opposition to her visit to the self-ruled island.

The Chinese statement called Ms. Pelosi’s visit provocative and said it undermines China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. It said that sanctions would be imposed on Pelosi and her immediate family but did not say what they would be. Such sanctions are generally mostly symbolic.

Ms. Pelosi was the highest-ranking US official to visit the self-governing island in 25 years. China claims Taiwan as its territory and opposes it having its engagements with foreign governments.

Earlier, US secretary of state Antony Blinken said that Chinese military exercises aimed at Taiwan – including missiles fired into Japan’s exclusive economic zone – represent a “significant escalation”.

The military drills were launched by China after Ms. Pelosi visit sparked fury in Beijing.

Earlier, China said it summoned European diplomats to the country to protest statements issued by the Group of Seven nations and the European Union criticizing threatening Chinese military exercises surrounding Taiwan.

The Foreign Ministry said Vice Minister Deng Li made “solemn representations” over what he called “wanton interference in China’s internal affairs.”

China has dispatched navy ships and warplanes and launched missiles into the Taiwan Strait in response to a visit this week by U.S. Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan, which China regards as its territory to be annexed by force if necessary.

On the Chinese coast across from Taiwan, tourists gathered Friday to try to catch a glimpse of any military aircraft heading toward the exercise area. Fighter jets could be heard flying overhead and tourists taking photos chanted, “Let’s take Taiwan back,” looking out into the blue waters of the Taiwan Strait from Pingtan island, a popular scenic spot.

On Friday morning, China sent military ships and warplanes across the mid-line of the Taiwan Strait, the Taiwanese Defense Ministry said, crossing what had been an unofficial buffer zone between China and Taiwan for decades.

At a news conference in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh, Mr. Blinken said: “China has chosen to over-react and use Speaker Pelosi’s visit as a pretext to increase provocative military activity in and around the Taiwan Strait.”

Mr. Blinken also said the US stands in “strong solidarity” with Japan following the “dangerous actions China has taken”.

Speaking on the sidelines of a meeting with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Cambodia, Mr. Blinken said that Ms. Pelosi’s visit was peaceful and did not represent a change in American policy towards Taiwan.

He said the situation had led to a “vigorous communication” during East Asia Summit meetings in Phnom Penh in which both he and Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi took part along with the ASEAN nations, Russia and others.