US Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets with South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin at the Sokha Hotel in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on August 5 2022. Picture: POOL via REUTERS/ANDREW HARNIKChina’s firing of missiles during military drills around Taiwan was an unjustified escalation, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said, as Beijing said it would impose sanctions on House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi for visiting the island.
China launched its largest-ever military drills in the seas and skies around Taiwan on Thursday, a day after Pelosi enraged Beijing by making a solidarity trip to the island, the highest-level US visitor to Taiwan in 25 years. The live-fire drills are scheduled to continue until noon on Sunday. “Despite China’s serious concerns and firm opposition, Pelosi insisted on visiting Taiwan, seriously interfering in China’s internal affairs, undermining China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, trampling on the one-China policy, and threatening the peace and stability of the Taiwan Strait,” a foreign ministry spokesperson said in a statement.
On Thursday, China fired multiple missiles into waters surrounding Taiwan in an unprecedented escalation during live-fire exercises. “It counteracted the effect of the Chinese Communist Party’s psychological warfare,” said Mei Fu-shin, a US-based analyst. “The shock and fear were not as great as they could have been.”