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Taipei (AP):
After a similar recent visit by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi angered China, China announced more military exercises in Taiwan as the self-governing island’s president met with a new member of the U.S. congressional delegation on Monday, threatening to Tensions between Beijing and Washington.
Pelosi is the highest-ranking member of the U.S. government to visit Taiwan in 25 years, and her visit prompted nearly two weeks of threatening military exercises in China, which it claims is its own island. During the exercises, Beijing fired missiles at the island and into the Taiwan Strait, and sent warplanes and naval ships across the waterway’s centerline, which had long served as a buffer zone between the two sides divided in the 1949 civil war.
China has accused the US of encouraging the island’s independence through arms sales and contacts between US politicians and the island’s government. Washington has said it does not support independence, has no formal diplomatic relations with the island and insists the two sides should resolve disputes peacefully – but it is legally obligated to ensure the island can withstand any attack.
U.S. and Taiwanese officials have accused China of using Pelosi’s visit as a pretext for intimidation, and a senior U.S. official said recently that Washington will continue to deepen ties with Taiwan in the days and weeks ahead.
The most recent trip started on Sunday with little advance notice – prompting more anger in China. The delegation was due to leave later on Monday.
“China will take resolute and forceful measures to defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told a daily briefing on Monday, after Beijing announced new exercises in the waters and skies surrounding Taiwan. “A small group of American politicians colluded with the separatist forces for Taiwan independence in an attempt to challenge the ‘one China’ principle, which has gone beyond their depths and is doomed to failure.”
The Defense Ministry said earlier that the new exercise was aimed at “resolutely responding to and solemnly deterring collusion and provocation between the United States and Taiwan.”
It is unclear if the new drills have already started, as the ministry did not detail the location and timing of the drills compared to previous rounds.
U.S. lawmakers led by Sen. Ed Markey, Democrat of Massachusetts, met with President Tsai Ing-wen, Foreign Minister Wu Zhaoxie and lawmakers, according to the American Taiwan Institute in Washington. Actually Embassy on the island.
Tsai Ing-wen said at the meeting that her administration is working with allies to ensure stability and maintain the Taiwan Strait status quo – Refers to island autonomy independent of Beijing.
“Russia’s invasion of Ukraine earlier this year showed the threat that authoritarian states pose to the global order,” Cai said.
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