China halts dialogue with U.S. on military, climate over Pelosi Taiwan trip

China halts dialogue with U.S. on military, climate over Pelosi Taiwan trip
# 05 August 2022 20:23 (UTC +04:00)

China announced on Friday it was halting dialogue with the United States in a number of areas, including between theater-level military commanders and on climate talks, in an escalating furore over House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan, APA reports citing Reuters.

China's foreign ministry said it was also suspending cooperation with Washington on prevention of cross-border crime and drug trafficking, an area along with climate change where U.S. officials see opportunity for cooperation.

Enraged after Pelosi became the highest-level visitor in 25 years to the self-governed island that Beijing regards as its sovereign territory, China launched military drills in the seas and skies around Taiwan on Thursday. The live-fire drills, the largest ever conducted by China in the Taiwan Strait, are scheduled to continue until noon on Sunday.

Taiwan's defence ministry said on Friday a total of 68 Chinese military aircraft and 13 navy ships were conducting missions in the sensitive Taiwan Strait. Some of them, they said, crossed an unofficial buffer separating the two sides, a move the ministry described as "damaging the status quo".

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Washington has repeatedly made clear to Beijing it does not seek a crisis over Pelosi's visit to Taiwan, which took place on Wednesday during a congressional tour of Asia.

"There is no justification for this extreme, disproportionate and escalatory military response," Blinken told a news conference on the sidelines of the ASEAN Regional Forum in Cambodia. He added, "now, they've taken dangerous acts to a new level".

On Friday, China's military conducted air and sea drills to the north, southwest and east of Taiwan "to test the troops' joint combat capabilities", the Eastern Theater Command of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) said in a statement.

Blinken emphasised that the United States would not take actions to provoke a crisis, but it would continue to support regional allies and conduct standard air and maritime transit through the Taiwan Strait.

"We will fly, sail and operate wherever international law allows," he said.

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