Notably, Pelosi was the highest-ranking US official to visit the self-governing island in 25 years, which China claims Taiwan as its territory and opposes it having its own engagements with foreign governments, the report said.
The statement by the Chinese Foreign Ministry reportedly called Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan provocative and said it undermines China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, adding that “sanctions would be imposed on Pelosi and her immediate family but did not say what they would be. Such sanctions are generally mostly symbolic in nature."
It is important to note that China dispatched navy ships and warplanes and launched missiles into the Taiwan Strait in response to the visit this week by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan, which China considers its own territory. Meanwhile, the report further stated that 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. Additionally, the Taiwanese Defense Ministry said, on Friday morning, China sent military ships and war planes across the mid-line of the Taiwan Strait, crossing what had been an unofficial buffer zone between China and Taiwan for decades, according to the AP report.
In another development, China had earlier summoned the United States Ambassador Nicholas Burns to protest Pelosi's visit even as the speaker left Taiwan on Wednesday after meeting with President Tsai Ing-wen and holding other public events. The AP report noted that Pelosi traveled on to South Korea and then Japan as the two countries host US military bases and could likely be drawn into a conflict involving Taiwan. The AP report citing the official Xinhua News Agency said that the Chinese exercises involve troops from the navy, air force, rocket force, strategic support force and logistic support force, adding that they are believed to be the largest held near Taiwan in geographical terms, with Beijing announcing six exercise zones surrounding the island.
(With inputs from AP)
