(Washington Insider Magazine)-BEIJING (Transatlantic Today) — China said on Friday that it is halting dialogue with the United States on a number of subjects, including climate change, military ties, and anti-drug initiatives, in retaliation for Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan this week.
The latest in a planned series of actions to punish the United States for permitting the visit to the island it regards as its own territory, to be taken by force if necessary, the sanctions come amid deteriorating ties between Washington and Beijing. China said its military drills would take place in 6 zones just off Taiwan’s shores from Thursday through Sunday.
State media was informed by defense authorities that missiles had also been launched over Taiwan. China opposes the autonomous island’s connections with other nations, but it has been exceptionally vocal in its opposition to Pelosi’s visit.
The interaction between the regional defense department directors of the United States and China, as well as discussions on military maritime safety, would be scrapped, according to the Foreign Ministry.
The government announced that cooperation on illicit narcotics, climate change, returning illegal immigrants, criminal investigations, and transnational crime will be halted.
While announcing mostly symbolic sanctions against U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her family over her trip to Taiwan earlier this week, China said on Friday that more than 10 warships and 100 warplanes had participated in the live-fire military exercises that have been taking place around Taiwan over the past 2 days.
According to the official Xinhua News Agency, “joint blockage operations” involved the employment of fighters, frigates, bombers, and destroyers.
The military’s Eastern Theater Command also launched updated missiles that it claimed “hit with precision” unnamed targets in the Taiwan Strait.
Military officials informed state media that the Rocket Force also launched missiles over Taiwan and into the Pacific, further escalating China’s threats to strike and annex the island.
The exercises are China’s most forceful retort to Pelosi’s visit, according to Xinhua, who described them as being held on an “unprecedented scale.” In the past 25 years, the speaker is Taiwan’s highest-ranking American politician to visit.
The United States and China have generally had halting at best dialogue and interactions, notably on economic and military topics. However, they had found common ground on matters like combating the trade in dangerous narcotics like fentanyl, and China’s suspension of cooperation may have a big impact on efforts to make headway in those areas.
With over 40% of all fossil fuel emissions coming from just the two countries, the United States and China, respectively, are the world’s top and second climate polluters. Xie Zhenhua and John Kerry, two of their top climate diplomats, kept a friendly connection that went back to the Paris climate agreement, which was made possible by a negotiation success between the two of them and others.
At the U.N. global climate conference in Glasgow last year, China agreed to collaborate with the U.S. “with urgency” to reduce emissions that harm the environment, but Kerry was unable to convince it to substantially speed up China’s transition away from coal.
Since the sides were split during a civil war in 1949, China’s claim that Taiwan is its territory and its willingness to use force to retake it have been prominent motifs in the propaganda of the ruling Communist Party, the educational system, and the wholly state-controlled media.
The majority of Taiwanese people support retaining the island’s de facto independence and oppose China’s demands that it unite with the mainland under Communist rule.
According to the Taiwanese Defense Ministry, China dispatched warplanes and armed vessels over the Taiwan Strait’s midline on Friday morning, breaking what had been an unofficial buffer zone between Taiwan and China for many years.
Pelosi, who is wrapping off her journey to Asia in Tokyo, asserted that China cannot obstruct American officials from traveling to Taiwan.
In response to remarks made by the Group of 7 industrialized nations and the European Union denouncing Chinese military drills near Taiwan, China said it summoned European ambassadors stationed there.
China has highlighted the international support it has gotten, mostly from other authoritarian nations like North Korea, Syria, and Russia, for its response to Pelosi’s visit.
Prior to Pelosi’s arrival, China had summoned U.S. Ambassador Nicholas Burns. After visiting with President Tsai Ing-wen and attending other official engagements, the speaker left Taiwan on Wednesday. She continued her journey to Japan and South Korea. Both nations might become involved in a confrontation with Taiwan as they both host U.S. military sites.
According to ABC NEWS, the Chinese drills include personnel from the air force, navy, rocket force, logistic support force, and strategic support force.
They are said to be the biggest held near Taiwan in terms of distance and closeness, being only 12 miles away from the island.
The drills, according to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, is a “significant escalation,” and he has urged Beijing to scale back its actions.
According to U.S. law, the government is required to handle Taiwan-related threats, such as blockades, as “grave concerns.”
The drills resemble the most recent significant Chinese military exercises that were conducted in 1995 and 1996 with the intention of scaring Taiwan’s leaders and voters.
Taiwan’s military has been placed on notice, and civil defense drills have been held, although generally conditions were quiet on Friday. In order to escape the Chinese drills, flights have been changed or canceled, and fishermen have stayed in port.