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The Chinese People’s Liberation Army will hold live-fire exercises in the vicinity of Taiwan from August 4 to 7.
It will do so in response to the visit of the Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosito Taiwan, where it landed on Tuesday.
Beijing claims the island as its own territory and has taken the parliamentary leader’s trip, the highest-ranking US official to Taiwan in 25 years, as a grave affront.
Shortly following Pelosi landed in Taipei, the Chinese media announced the military exercise with a ban on all civilian ships and aircraft from entering the surrounding regions.
China’s warning
Chinese military exercises will include “long-range live shooting” in the Taiwan Straitaccording to the army.
“This action is directed at the recent and shocking escalation by the United States on the Taiwan issue,” a military spokesman said in a statement.
He also stated that it isa serious warning for Taiwanese independence forces or for those seeking independence.
image source, Getty Images
Nancy Pelosi is the highest-ranking US politician to travel to Taiwan since 1997, when fellow House Speaker Newt Gingrich arrived on the island.
The exercises will begin once Pelosi is no longer in Taiwan.
Beijing also announced economic sanctions by suspending imports from 100 Taiwanese companies in the food sector.
A “serious impact” on relationships
The Chinese Foreign Ministry strongly condemned Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan, calling it a “serious violation of the one-China principle.”
He assured that it “seriously violates the sovereignty and territorial integrity of China” and will have a “serious political impact” on relations between China and the United States.
“It seriously undermines peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and sends a very wrong signal to separatist forces for ‘Taiwan independence,'” the ministry said in its statement.
Beijing urged the United States “not to follow the wrong and dangerous pathand to “stop playing the ‘Taiwan card’ and interfering in China’s internal affairs.”
The possibility of the visit, which is part of a tour of Asia, had already raised tensions between Washington and Beijing, with the Chinese government threatening “strong consequences” if Pelosi came to Taipei.
The Taiwan Affairs Office of the Communist Party of China (CPC) also questioned the visit, adding that any attempt to seek Taiwan’s independence “will be smashed by the mighty force of the Chinese people.”
China sees Taiwan as a rogue province that will be reunited with the mainland sooner or later.
Meanwhile, Taiwan sees itself as an independent country, governed democratically, even though it has never officially declared its independence.
While the United States maintains what it calls a “strong and unofficial relationship” with Taiwan, it has formal diplomatic ties with China and not with the island.
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