China announced on Friday, August 5 to end cooperation with the United States on several issues after the visit this week to Taiwan by Nancy Pelosi, American Speaker of the House of Representatives.
China on Friday (August 5) suspended all cooperation with the United States on global warming and other areas, plunging relations between the two countries to their lowest level in years, in retaliation for the visit to Taiwan by the Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi.
Beijing will ‘suspend China-US climate change talks' and cancel a military leadership talk and two security meetings, China's foreign ministry has said, slamming Nancy Pelosi for dealing with ‘contempt' China‘s opposition to his visit to Taipei.
China and the United States, the world's two biggest emitters of greenhouse gases, struck a surprise climate deal at the COP26 summit in Glasgow last year. They pledged to work together to accelerate climate action over the next decade and to meet regularly to “address the climate crisis” .
“Provocations” which represent “a significant escalation”
The Foreign Ministry also said it was suspending cooperation with Washington on the repatriation of illegal migrants, as well as on justice, transnational crime, and the fight against drugs. Earlier, he had indicated imposing sanctions on Nancy Pelosi and her close family, without detailing what they consisted of.
Mainland China, which considers Taiwan to be part of its territory, perceived the visit of the third state figure to the United States as a major provocation. Washington for its part accused the Chinese government of overreacting.
China's largest-ever military drill near Taiwan, which kicked off Thursday (August 4), is set to continue through Monday. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken blasted the Chinese maneuvers, calling them “provocations” that represent “a significant escalation” of tensions in the eyes of the United States.
BEIJING: China on Friday said it is canceling or suspending dialogue with the United States on a range of issues from climate change to military relations and anti-drug efforts in retaliation for a visit this week to Taiwan by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
The measures, which come amid cratering relations between Beijing and Washington, are the latest in a promised series of steps intended to punish the US for allowing the visit to the island it claims as its own territory, to be annexed by force if necessary. China on Thursday launched threatening military exercises in six zones just off Taiwan's coasts that it says will run through Sunday.
Missiles have also been fired over Taiwan, defense officials told state media. China opposes the self-governing island having its own contacts with foreign governments, but its response to the Pelosi visit has been unusually vociferous.
The foreign ministry said dialogue between the US and Chinese regional commanders and defense department heads would be canceled, along with talks on military maritime safety.
Cooperation on returning illegal immigrants, criminal investigations, transnational crime, illegal drugs, and climate change will be suspended, the ministry said.
China said Friday that more than 100 warplanes and 10 warships have taken part in the live-fire military drills surrounding Taiwan over the past two days while announcing mainly symbolic sanctions against US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her family over her visit to Taiwan earlier this week.
The official Xinhua News Agency said Friday that fighters, bombers, destroyers and frigates were all used in what it called “joint blockage operations.”
The military’s Eastern Theater Command also fired new versions of missiles it said hit unidentified targets in the Taiwan Strait “with precision.”
The Rocket Force also fired projectiles over Taiwan into the Pacific, military officers told state media, in a major ratcheting up of China’s threats to attack and invade the island.
The drills, which Xinhua described as being held on an “unprecedented scale,” are China's most strident response to Pelosi's visit. The speaker is the highest-ranking US politician to visit Taiwan in 25 years.
Dialogue and exchanges between China and the US, particularly on military matters and economic exchanges, have generally been halting at best. Climate change and fighting the trade in illegal drugs such as fentanyl were, however, areas where they had found common cause, and Beijing's suspension of cooperation could have significant implications for efforts to achieve progress in those issues
China and the United States are the world’s No. 1 and No. 2 climate polluters, together producing nearly 40% of all fossil-fuel emissions. Their top climate diplomats, John Kerry and Xie Zhenhua maintained a cordial relationship that dated back to the Paris climate accord, which was made possible by a breakthrough negotiated among the two and others.
China under Kerry’s prodding committed at last year’s UN global climate summit in Glasgow to working with the US “with urgency” to cut climate-wrecking emissions, but Kerry was unable to persuade it to significantly speed up China’s move away from coal.
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 in Fujian province.
Pelosi's visit stirred emotions among the Chinese public, and the government's response “makes us feel our motherland is very powerful and gives us confidence that the return of Taiwan is the irresistible trend,” said Wang Lu, a tourist from neighboring Zhejiang province.
China is a “powerful country and it will not allow anyone to offend its own territory,” said Liu Bolin, a high school student visiting the island. His mother, Zheng Zhidan, was somewhat more circumspect.
“We are compatriots and we hope to live in peace,” Zheng said. “We should live peacefully with each other.”
