China slapped unspecified sanctions on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her family Friday as retaliation for her visit to Taiwan. China's foreign ministry described her visit to the island as an "egregious provocation," CNBC reports. In a statement, the ministry said the visit "constitutes a gross interference in China’s internal affairs." China also announced that it would cancel or suspend dialogue with the US on numerous issues, including climate change and anti-drug efforts, along with transnational crime and the returning of illegal immigrants, reports the AP.
Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said Friday that massive military drills China launched around Taiwan after Pelosi departed were a "significant escalation." He said Pelosi's visit did not mark a change in US policy, but Beijing had used it as a "pretext to increase provocative military activity in and around the Taiwan Strait." He said the US would not be provoked by China's actions and US forces would continue to operate wherever international law allows it, the Guardian reports. Japan's defense ministry said four missiles fired during exercises Thursday flew over Taiwan's capital, and five landed in the waters of Japan's exclusive economic zone, reports Reuters.
Analysts said the firing of missiles into Japanese waters "sent a warning to both the United States and Japan about coming to the aid of Taiwan in the event of a conflict there," per the New York Times. After a meeting with Pelosi in Tokyo, Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida called for an immediate halt to the military exercises. Taiwan has had a separate government from mainland China since 1949, when the Republic of China government retreated to the island following defeats by Communist forces, but Beijing still claims it as its territory and has long vowed that reunification will happen by force if necessary. (More Nancy Pelosi stories.)
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