China has announced it is severing ties with the United States on a litany of key issues over the countries\u2019 disagreement over Taiwan.<\/p>\n
China said Friday it was ending co-operation with the United States on a litany of key issues including climate change, anti-drug efforts and military talks, as relations between the two superpowers nosedive over the island of Taiwan.<\/p>\n
Beijing has reacted furiously to a visit by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to the island, which it claims as its territory and has vowed to retake, by force if necessary.<\/p>\n
It has since Thursday encircled the self-ruled, democratic island with a series of huge military drills that have been roundly condemned by the United States and other Western allies.<\/p>\n
And Friday saw its foreign ministry hit back further against the United States, suspending talks and co-operation on multiple agreements between the two — including on fighting climate change.<\/p>\n
The world\u2019s two largest polluters last year pledged to work together to accelerate climate action this decade, and vowed to meet regularly to \u201caddress the climate crisis\u201d.<\/p>\n
But that deal looks shaky as relations sink to some of their lowest levels in years, as do agreements on everything from talks on military matters to anti-drug co-operation.<\/p>\n
Pelosi – who was also hit with sanctions by Beijing for the visit – has defended her trip to Taiwan, saying Friday that Washington would \u201cnot allow\u201d China to isolate the island.<\/p>\n
Taiwan has also condemned Beijing\u2019s furious response to the visit, with premier Su Tseng-chang calling for allies to push for de-escalation.<\/p>\n
\u201c(We) didn\u2019t 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,\u201d he told reporters.<\/p>\n
Beijing has said its military exercises will continue until midday Sunday, and Taipei reported that Chinese fighter jets and ships crossed the \u201cmedian line\u201d that runs down the Taiwan Strait on Friday morning.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs of 11am, multiple batches of Chinese warplanes and warships conducted exercises around the Taiwan Strait and crossed the median line of the strait,\u201d Taipei\u2019s defence ministry said in a statement.<\/p>\n
AFP journalists on the Chinese island of Pingtan saw a fighter jet flying overhead, prompting tourists to snap photos as it flew along the coast.<\/p>\n
A Chinese military vessel was also visible sailing through the Taiwan Strait, they added.<\/p>\n
China\u2019s drills involved a \u201cconventional missile firepower assault\u201d in waters to the east of Taiwan, the Chinese military said.<\/p>\n
And state broadcaster CCTV reported that Chinese missiles had flown directly over Taiwan — a major escalation if officially confirmed.<\/p>\n
On the Chinese island of Pingtan, local tourists proudly extolled their country\u2019s military might against its much smaller neighbour.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur motherland is powerful. We are not afraid of having war with Taiwan, the US or any country in the world,\u201d Liu, a 40-year-old tourist from Zhejiang province, told AFP.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe hope to unify Taiwan soon. We are not scared of anyone,\u201d he added. \u201cOur country is powerful. We don\u2019t want to start a war, but we are not afraid of others.\u201d<\/p>\n
China\u2019s ruling Communist Party views Taiwan as part of its territory and has vowed to one day take it, by force if necessary.<\/p>\n
But the scale and intensity of the drills have triggered outrage in the United States and other democracies.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese provocative actions are a significant escalation,\u201d Blinken said after talks with Southeast Asian foreign ministers in Phnom Penh.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe fact is, the speaker\u2019s visit was peaceful. There is no justification for this extreme, disproportionate and escalators military response,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Japan lodged a formal diplomatic complaint against Beijing, with five of China\u2019s missiles believed to have landed in its exclusive economic zone.<\/p>\n
And Australia — which has a troubled relationship with China, its largest trading partner — condemned the drills as \u201cdisproportionate and destabilising\u201d.<\/p>\n
The manoeuvres are taking place along some of the world\u2019s busiest shipping routes, used to disseminate the global supply of vital semiconductors and electronic equipment produced in East Asia.<\/p>\n
\u25aa\ufe0e By AFP<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" China has announced it is severing ties with the United States on a litany of key issues over the countries\u2019 disagreement over Taiwan. China said Friday it was ending co-operation with the United States on a litany of key issues including climate change, anti-drug efforts and military talks, as relations between the two superpowers nosedive […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":59172,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5787],"tags":[1426,2764,577],"class_list":["post-59171","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world","tag-china","tag-pelosi","tag-us"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59171","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=59171"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59171\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=59171"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=59171"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=59171"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}