BEIJING – United States House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her immediate family members have been sanctioned by China following her visit to Taiwan.
China’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the decision is in response to “Pelosi’s egregious provocation”.
“In disregard of China’s grave concerns and firm opposition, Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi insisted on visiting Taiwan.
“This constitutes a gross interference in China’s internal affairs.
“It 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,” it said today.
China has announced sanctions on a number of US officials in recent years for acting against what it views as its core interests and speaking out on human rights issues in Hong Kong and the northwestern region of Xinjiang, often without specifying punitive measures.
In March this year Beijing said it was imposing visa restrictions on an undisclosed list of United States officials who had allegedly “concocted lies on human rights issues involving China”.
Former US secretary of state Mike Pompeo, as well as Peter Navarro – a trade adviser to former president Donald Trump – were among those hit by earlier waves of sanctions and are forbidden from entering China as well as doing business with Chinese entities.
Earlier, Pelosi was reported as saying that the US will “not allow” China to isolate Taiwan.
“They may try to keep Taiwan from visiting or participating in other places, but they will not isolate Taiwan by preventing us from travelling there,” she told reporters in Tokyo.
“We had high-level visits, senators in the spring, the bi-partisan way, continuing visits, and we will not allow them to isolate Taiwan.”
Pelosi is on the final leg of an Asian tour that included a stop in Taiwan as she defied stern threats from China to become the highest-profile US official to visit the island in years.
Beijing, which views Taiwan as part of its territory and has vowed to retake the self-ruled island one day – by force if necessary – has launched its largest-ever military exercises around the island in response.
The 82-year-old American politician arrived last night from South Korea, another key US ally, where she visited the border with the nuclear-armed North.
It is her first time in Japan since 2015. – AFP, August 5, 2022
