China on Friday suspended all cooperation with the United States on global warming and other areas, sinking relations between the two countries to their lowest level in years, in retaliation for the president’s visit to Taiwan. of the US House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi.
Mobilizing warplanes and warships, China’s largest-ever military drill near Taiwan, also in reaction to Ms Pelosi’s trip this week, continued Friday for the second day in a row, with Taipei lambasting its “malicious neighbor whose maneuvers literally surrounded him for three days.
Beijing will ‘suspend China-US climate change talks’ and cancel a military leadership talk as well as two security meetings, the Chinese foreign ministry has said, slamming Ms Pelosi for dealing with ‘contempt’ » China’s opposition to his visit to Taipei.
China and the United States, the world’s two largest emitters of greenhouse gases, struck a surprise climate deal at the COP26 summit in Glasgow last year. They pledged to work together to accelerate climate action over the next decade and to meet regularly to “address the climate crisis”.
The Foreign Ministry also said it was suspending cooperation with Washington on the repatriation of irregular migrants, as well as on justice, transnational crime and the fight against drugs.
Mainland China, which considers Taiwan part of its territory, saw the visit of Ms. Pelosi, the third state figure in the United States, as a major provocation.
Mrs Pelosi has “seriously interfered in the internal affairs of China and undermined its sovereignty and territorial integrity”, denounced the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, announcing “to impose sanctions” against her and her “close family “, without giving details.
Washington for its part accused the Chinese government of overreacting.
The military exercises are to continue until Sunday noon.
The middle line crossed
According to Taipei, as of 5 p.m. Friday (0900 GMT), a total of 68 Chinese aircraft and 13 warships had crossed the “middle line” of the Taiwan Strait, which separates the island from the continent.
The day before, Beijing had already fired a dozen ballistic missiles and deployed its air force and navy in the six maritime zones chosen for the maneuvers all around Taiwan, approaching up to 20 km from the coast and disrupting trade routes among the busiest in the world.
State broadcaster CCTV claimed that Chinese missiles even flew over Taiwan for the first time. Taipei has not confirmed.
“We never expected our malevolent neighbor to flaunt his might at our doorstep, and arbitrarily endanger the world’s busiest waterways with his military exercises,” Taiwan’s premier told reporters. Su Tseng-chang.
In Pingtan, a Chinese island located not far from the maneuvers in progress, AFP journalists saw a fighter plane in the sky at midday on Friday.
Carrying umbrellas to protect themselves from the scorching sun, tourists tried to take pictures of the device while in the distance, in the Taiwan Strait, a Chinese military ship was seen.
“Our country is powerful”
“We hope we can reunite with Taiwan soon. We are not afraid of anyone, our country is powerful, ”one of them, Mr. Liu, 40, from Zhejiang province (east), told AFP.
Not far from him, Ms. Wang, dressed in yellow, agreed: “I hope China can reintegrate Taiwan soon, but I don’t want a war. I hope this issue can be settled peacefully, because we Chinese people are friendly.”
“China must show its strength now,” said another tourist, Mr. Zhou, 40. Even if “we love peace”.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday slammed the Chinese maneuvers as “provocations” that represent “a significant escalation” of tensions in the eyes of the United States.
Japan expressed a formal diplomatic protest against Beijing, believing that five of the Chinese missiles fell inside its exclusive economic zone (EEZ).
“We call for the immediate cessation of military exercises,” said Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.
In Tokyo, the last leg of her eventful Asian tour, Pelosi said the United States “will not allow” China to isolate Taiwan, saying her trip “was not about changing the status quo here in Asia, change the status quo in Taiwan”.
The Chinese maneuvers encroach on some of the busiest shipping routes on the planet, through which essential electronic equipment from factories in East Asia is shipped to global markets.
The Taiwan Maritime and Port Bureau has warned ships passing through this area and several international airlines have told AFP that they are diverting their flights to avoid the airspace around the island.
Analysts agree that, despite these military exercises, Beijing does not want an armed confrontation for the time being.
“The last thing Xi wants is the outbreak of an accidental war,” Titus Chen, associate professor of political science at National Sun Yat-Sen University in Taiwan, told AFP.
To see in video
–
