While his fighters and warships China continued for the second day in a row his military encirclement Taiwan following a much appreciated visit by the Speaker of the American Chamber Nancy Pelosi on the island, diplomatic relations between Washington and Beijing were at their lowest point, going back to the Cold War era between the United States and the Soviet Union.

China’s Foreign Ministry announced yesterday that it will sanction Pelosi and members of her immediate family for her “malicious” and “provocative” actions. In addition, he announced China’s decision to cut communication channels with United States at the military level and suspend all cooperation on climate change, international shipping security, combating drug trafficking, combating crime and repatriating illegal migrants. For its part, the White House summoned China’s ambassador to Washington, Qin Gang, to express the US government’s displeasure at China’s military pressure on Taiwan, according to the Washington Post.

“No Excuse”

At a press conference held in Cambodia on the sidelines of the ASEAN Southeast Asian Ministerial Meeting, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said that “there is no justification for this extreme, excessive and dangerous military response” by the Chinese authorities to Pelosi’s visit. He emphasized that America would not take measures that could escalate the crisis, adding, however, that “we will fly, swim and act wherever international law allows us.”

The crisis in the Taiwan Strait overshadowed the ASEAN summit, where the organization’s member countries kept an equal distance and in a joint communiqué called on all parties to show restraint, warning of serious risks of an accident that could lead to conflict between large forces. In a show of unity, the Chinese and Russian foreign ministers walked out of the plenary session together when the Japanese foreign minister was speaking.

Anxiety in Japan

Japan was deeply disturbed by the Taiwan Strait crisis and complained that Chinese missiles fell on the first day of high school in the country’s exclusive economic zone. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who welcomed Nancy Pelosi to Tokyo yesterday, spoke of “a move that poses a serious challenge to our national security” and asked China to close high schools immediately.

“We weren’t asked”

However, as French newspaper Le Monde points out, the atmosphere in Tokyo was rather chilly for Nancy Pelosi, as was her tour’s previous stop, South Korea. “If we had been consulted (during Pelosi’s visit), we would have told them that this is not a good idea,” a diplomatic source in Tokyo said, expressing dissatisfaction with the lack of consultation between Americans and their Japanese allies. Pelosi herself said in Tokyo that her visit to Taiwan “was not intended to change the status quo in the region.”

Over the course of yesterday, China conducted air and naval exercises north, southwest and east of Taiwan “to test the capability of our forces in joint operations,” the Chinese military said. For its part, Taiwan’s defense ministry said 68 fighter jets and 13 Chinese warships violated the median line between the two neighbors.

tour of germany

It was announced in Berlin that the House Human Rights Committee plans to visit Taiwan in late October as part of a tour that will also include Japan and Hong Kong. As clarified in the related announcement, the decision on the tour was made before Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan.