Dispute over Taiwan: China imposes sanctions on US officials

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The government building in Beijing: China has announced that it will take punitive action against US personnel

Photo: Diego Azubel / dpa

China's government has announced sanctions against American officials in the dispute with the United States over Taiwan.

The decision is a "response to the misconduct on the part of the US," said Chinese Foreign Office spokeswoman Hua Chunying at a press conference in Beijing on Monday.

The Chinese government did not say which officials were involved, only that they were "people who behave unheard of and bear greater responsibility."

The punitive measures planned against these persons were also not explained.

The announcement followed what US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made last week.

Pompeo had announced that after decades of restrictions, the US government wanted to maintain official relations with the government in Taipei in the future.

China rejects this resolutely because the communist leadership sees the democratic island state as part of the People's Republic.

The Chinese government warned the US against diplomatic relations with Taiwan.

Historic video conference between the USA and Taiwan

Last week, the US Ambassador to the United Nations, Kelly Craft, and Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen held a video conference for the first time.

Originally, Craft had planned to make a historic visit to Taipei, but had to cancel because of the transfer of power in Washington.

It would have been the first such visit since 1968.

With its one-China doctrine, Beijing rejects official relations between its diplomatic partners and Taipei.

The dispute over the status of Taiwan goes back to the civil war in China when the troops of the national Chinese Kuomintang fled to Taiwan after their defeat by the communists under Mao Tsetung.

The Communist People's Republic was founded in Beijing in 1949, while Taiwan was ruled as the "Republic of China".

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