CNN) — Chinese authorities announced sanctions against the Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, after her visit to Taiwan, which China considers part of its territory.
“US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi insisted on visiting Taiwan in disregard of China’s grave concerns and staunch opposition, seriously interfering in China’s internal affairs, seriously undermining China’s sovereignty and integrity. China’s territorial territory, seriously trampling on the one-China principle and seriously threatening peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait,” a Chinese Foreign Ministry statement said on Friday.
“In response to Pelosi’s perverse and provocative actions, China has decided to impose sanctions on Pelosi and her immediate family,” the statement said.
The statement did not elaborate on those sanctions.
increase tension
Chinese warships and planes carried out military exercises in waters near Taiwan on Friday, the island’s Defense Ministry said, as tensions in the region rose following a visit by the speaker of the US House of Representatives. , Nancy Pelosi, to the island this week.
The Ministry said Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) forces crossed the median line, the midpoint between the island and mainland China, in a move it called a “highly provocative act.”
The line has previously been an informal but widely respected border control between Beijing and Taipei.
Taiwan’s military responded with radio warnings and put air patrol forces, naval ships and ground-based missile systems on alert, the ministry added.
On Friday, Taiwanese Prime Minister Su Tseng-chang said the island stood for “freedom and democracy” and that “the evil next-door neighbor flexed his muscles at our door and arbitrarily sabotaged (one of) the most the world with military exercises”.
The skies and waters around Taiwan have become a focal point as Beijing escalates tensions not only with Taiwan, but also with neighboring Japan, which lodged a formal protest with China after five projectiles landed in the Zone. Exclusive Economic Area (EEZ) of Japan.
The missiles were among several launched by Beijing on Thursday, some of which flew over Taiwan, as Pelosi headed to Tokyo, where she met with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Friday.
China has previously fired missiles into the waters surrounding Taiwan, a democratic island of 24 million that the Chinese Communist Party considers its territory, even though it has never controlled it, most notably during the Taiwan Strait crisis in the 1990s. 1990.
But the missiles that flew over the island represented a significant escalation, and US officials have warned there could be more to come.