China announced Friday it will end cooperation with the United States on several key issues including climate change, anti-drug efforts and military talks as relations between the two countries got further strained over US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visit to Taiwan.
China reacted furiously to a visit by Pelosi to the self-ruled island, which Beijing considers its own. Beijing carried out a series of huge military drills that have been condemned by the US and other Western allies.
China and US – the world’s two largest polluters – last year pledged to work together to accelerate climate action this decade. They also vowed to meet regularly to “address the climate crisis.”
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However, the deal is likely to be shelved following Beijing’s concerns over Pelosi’s Taiwan visit. Beijing also hit Pelosi with sanctions, which were announced Friday.
Pelosi has defended her trip to Taiwan, saying that Washington would “not allow” China to isolate the island. China’s furious response to the visit was also condemned by Taiwan.
“(We) didn’t expect that the evil neighbour next door would show off its power at our door and arbitrarily jeopardise the busiest waterways in the world with its military exercises,” premier Su Tseng-chang told reporters.
Beijing said its military exercises will continue until midday Sunday. Taipei reported that Chinese fighter jets and ships crossed the “median line” that runs down the Taiwan Strait Friday morning.
“As of 11 am, multiple batches of Chinese warplanes and warships conducted exercises around the Taiwan Strait and crossed the median line of the strait,” Taipei’s defence ministry said in a statement.
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US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Friday that China’s military drills around Taiwan is a disproportionate and unjustified escalation.
“There is no justification for this extreme, disproportionate and escalatory military response,” Blinken told a news conference on the sidelines of an ASEAN meeting, adding, “now, they’ve taken dangerous acts to a new level.”