China scraps climate and anti-drug deals with US over Taiwan
‘We are not afraid of having a war with Taiwan, the US or any country in the world’
‘China is an evil neighbour showing off her power at our door’
CHINA said it was ending cooperation with the United States on key issues including climate change, anti-drug efforts and military talks, as relations between the two superpowers nosedived because of Taiwan.
Beijing has reacted furiously to the decision by Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the US House of Representatives, to visit the self-ruled island, which it claims as its territory and has promised to retake – by force if necessary.
This week she became the highestlevel US visitor to the territory in 25 years. Since she left, China has staged unprecedented war games to encircle Taiwan. At least four Chinese ballistic missiles flew over the capital Taipei on Thursday, according to Japan’s defence ministry, the first time since 1996.
Yesterday tensions intensified after China’s foreign ministry suspended talks and cooperation on a series of agreements with the US, including on climate change.
The world’s two largest polluters last year pledged to work together to accelerate climate action this decade, and promised to meet regularly to “address the climate crisis”. But that deal looks shaky as relations deteriorate to their lowest levels in years, as do agreements ranging from talks on military matters to anti-drug cooperation.
Beijing also announced that it would impose sanctions on Ms Pelosi and her immediate family in response to her “vicious” and “provocative” actions.
The White House said that China’s decision to cut off climate talks was “fundamentally irresponsible”.
It came as Chinese warships and fighter jets once again crossed the unofficial border line in the sensitive Taiwan Strait yesterday, prompting Su Tsengchang, Taiwan’s premier, to condemn the “evil neighbour showing off her power at our door”.
Taiwan’s defence ministry said the drills were “highly provocative”.
“As of 11am, multiple batches of Chinese warplanes and warships conducted exercises around the Taiwan Strait and crossed the median line of the strait,” the ministry said in a statement.
It was rare for warships and jets to cross the median line, though Chinese incursions have become more frequent after Beijing declared in 2020 the unofficial border no longer existed. The drills are to continue until tomorrow. On the Chinese coast across from Taiwan, tourists gathered yesterday in an effort to catch a glimpse of military jets heading toward the exercise area.
People at Pingtan Island took photographs and chanted, “Let’s take Taiwan back”, as aircraft could be heard flying overhead. “Our motherland is powerful. We are not afraid of having war with Taiwan, the US or any country in the world,” Liu, a 40-year-old tourist from Zhejiang province, told AFP.