The Chinese government announced this Friday that it will impose sanctions on the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, and that it may stop cooperation with the United States in areas including military relations and climate change, in response to the visit of the congressman to the autonomous island earlier this week.
The Chinese Army also continued with a mock deployment and military exercises with more than 100 fighter jets and 10 warships in and around Taiwan.
The official Xinhua news agency reported on Friday that
fighters, bombers, destroyers and frigates
were used in what it called "joint blockade operations" taking place in six areas off the coast of Taiwan, which China claims as its own territory.
The army's so-called Eastern Theater Command also fired new versions of missiles that it said hit unidentified targets in the Taiwan Strait "with precision."
They included projectiles fired over Taiwan into the Pacific, military officials told state media, in
a major escalation of China's threats to annex the island by force
.
The unannounced visit of the US delegation to Taiwan has fueled a growing crisis, raising fears of conflict in the region and stoking tensions between Washington, its allies and Beijing.
China said on Friday it will cancel military phone calls between area commanders, defense meetings and cooperation on anti-drug efforts with the United States, and will no longer participate in talks on maritime security and climate change.
Sanctions against Pelosi and her family
The drills, which Xinhua described as being conducted on
an "unprecedented scale"
, are China's response to a visit this week by Pelosi to Taiwan.
She was the highest-ranking American politician to visit Taiwan in 25 years.
China announced unspecified sanctions against Pelosi and her family.
Typically, such sanctions are mostly symbolic in nature.
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A statement from the Chinese Foreign Ministry said that Pelosi had ignored China's serious concerns and firm opposition to her visit.
He called
Pelosi's visit provocative
and said it undermines China's sovereignty and territorial integrity.
The Chinese government opposes Taiwan having its own bilateral relations with other countries.
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fighter planes in sight
On the Chinese coast off 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 over the blue waters of the Taiwan Strait from Pingtan Island, a popular scenic spot.
a de facto independence
China's insistence that Taiwan is its territory and threat to use force to bring it under its control has been highlighted in the propaganda of the ruling Communist Party, the education system and the totally state-controlled media for more than seven decades since the sides split in 1949 amid civil war.
The island's residents are overwhelmingly in favor of maintaining the
status quo
of de facto independence and reject China's demands that Taiwan be unified with the mainland under communist control.
Combat deployment near Taiwan
On Friday morning, China sent
military ships and warplanes
through the median line of the Taiwan Strait, Taiwan's Defense Ministry said, crossing what had for decades been an unofficial buffer zone between China and Taiwan. .
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Five of the missiles fired by China since the military exercises began Thursday fell in Japan's Exclusive Economic Zone off Hateruma, an island far to the south of Japan's main islands, Japanese Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi said.
Japan questioned the missile launches in China as "serious threats to the national security of Japan and the security of the Japanese people."
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Japan's Defense Ministry later said it believes the other four missiles, fired from China's southeast coast of Fujian, flew over Taiwan.
In Tokyo, where Pelosi is wrapping up her Asia trip, she said China cannot prevent US officials from visiting Taiwan.
Speaking after breakfast with Pelosi and his congressional delegation, Kishida said missile launches must "stop immediately."
China said it had summoned European diplomats to the country to protest statements issued by the Group of Seven countries and the European Union criticizing Chinese military exercises that threaten Taiwan.
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The Foreign Ministry said Friday that Vice Minister Deng Li made "solemn representations" about what he called "unbridled interference in China's internal affairs."
Deng said China would "prevent the country from being divided with the strongest determination, using all means and at any cost."
The drills will take place
from Thursday to Sunday
and include missile attacks on targets in the island's north and south seas, an echo of the last major Chinese military drills aimed at intimidating Taiwan's leaders and voters held in 1995 and 1996. .
Taiwan Air Force Mirage fighter jets taxi on a runway at an airbase in Hsinchu, Taiwan, Friday, Aug. 5, 2022.Johnson Lai/AP
Taiwan has put its military on alert and held civil defense exercises, but the general mood remained calm on Friday.
Flights have been canceled or diverted and fishermen have remained in port to avoid Chinese drills.
