Developing News from SCMP| China announces sanctions against Nancy Pelosi and family for ‘serious violation of sovereignty’

Aug 5, 2022 | News


China / 
Military

Developing | China announces sanctions against Nancy Pelosi and family for ‘serious violation of sovereignty’

·       •Beijing summons European envoys to protest against statements by G7 foreign ministers and the EU high representative on Taiwan

· •Japan’s PM condemns China’s firing of ballistic missiles as a ‘serious problem that impacts our national security and the safety of our citizens’

Taiwan

Amber Wang

Amber Wang in Beijing

Published: 9:43am, 5 Aug, 2022

Why you can trust SCMP

US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi attends a press conference at the US Embassy in Tokyo on August 5, 2022, at the end of her Asian tour, which included a visit to Taiwan. (Photo by Richard A. Brooks / AFP)

US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi attends a press conference at the US Embassy in Tokyo on August 5, 2022, at the end of her Asian tour, which included a visit to Taiwan. (Photo by Richard A. Brooks / AFP)

Beijing’s foreign ministry has announced it will issue sanctions against US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her direct family relatives after she travelled to Taiwan this week.

The ministry said Pelosi’s trip to Taiwan was a serious violation of China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and a serious violation of the one-China principle.

Cyberattacks in Taiwan

Websites in Taiwan, including those of its defence and foreign affairs ministries, have gone offline amid heightened tension with Beijing and as mainland China holds military exercises in areas surrounding the island.

Several government websites in Taiwan have been subjected to cyberattacks in the days following the arrival of US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in Taiwan.

The websites of Taiwan’s National Defence Ministry and Foreign Affairs Ministry went down in the early hours of Friday but were soon back online. Both sites were also inaccessible late on Wednesday night.

Taiwanese leader says island ‘won’t provoke but will firmly defend’ amid mainland military drills

Taiwanese leader says island ‘won’t provoke but will firmly defend’ amid mainland military drills

Lo Ping-cheng, Taiwan Cabinet spokesman, said on Thursday attack traffic during this period was about twice as high as past attacks.

“The peak was on Tuesday, and the attack traffic was 23 times the previous peak,” Lo said.

Lo said targets of recent cyberattacks on government departments include Taiwan’s presidential office and the defence and foreign affairs ministries.

EVERY SATURDAY

A weekly curated round-up of social, political and economic stories from China and how they impact the world.

Lo said Taipei had launched a response mechanism to strengthen protection and so far, there had been no information security hazards.

US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi attends a press conference at the US embassy in Tokyo, on Friday, August 5, 2022, days after visiting Taiwan on Tuesday and Wednesday. Photo: AP Photo

US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi attends a press conference at the US embassy in Tokyo, on Friday, August 5, 2022, days after visiting Taiwan on Tuesday and Wednesday. Photo: AP Photo

PLA says US carrier retreated

The USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier escorting Pelosi’s flight has retreated after Beijing’s military set a shooting range to the east of Taiwan, a mainland military official said.

Meng Xiangqing, a professor at the National Defence University, was quoted by state broadcaster CCTV as saying the PLA’s aircraft carrier formation and nuclear submarines were taking part in the large-scale drills near the island

It is unclear whether both the Liaoning or Shandong were taking part in the drills, and the ships’ locations were not known.

Mainland China launches largest military drill in the Taiwan Strait after Pelosi’s visit

 

 

0:00 / 2:46

Mainland China launches largest military drill in the Taiwan Strait after Pelosi’s visit

Meng said the PLA had set its shooting range to the east of the island for the first time and that the USS Ronald Reagan, which escorted Pelosi’s flight, had since retreated a few hundred kilometres.

He said the PLA monitored Pelosi’s flight as it took off from Malaysia on Tuesday. He said Pelosi’s flight circled over the Philippines before going to Songshan airport in Taipei.

The US Navy on Thursday said the USS Ronald Reagan was conducting scheduled operations in the Philippine Sea in the Western Pacific, a 5.7 million sq km (2.2 million square-mile) stretch of ocean that includes waters southeast of Taiwan.

“USS Ronald Reagan and her strike group are under way in the Philippine Sea continuing normal, scheduled operations as part of her routine patrol in support of a free and open Indo-Pacific,” a US Navy Seventh Fleet spokesperson said.

An MH-60S Sea Hawk helicopter assigned to Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 23 takes off from the flight deck of amphibious assault carrier USS Tripoli, operating in the US Seventh Fleet, on Wednesday. Photo: US Navy

An MH-60S Sea Hawk helicopter assigned to Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 23 takes off from the flight deck of amphibious assault carrier USS Tripoli, operating in the US Seventh Fleet, on Wednesday. Photo: US Navy

Second day of drills

Military drills conducted by the People’s Liberation Army around Taiwan in response to Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan have entered their second day.

On the first day, the People’s Liberation Army fired at least 11 Dongfeng series missiles, and sent hundreds of fighters and bombers on exercises in the area.

On Friday, Xinhua said the PLA had used drones to take images of rockets hitting targets accurately in the Taiwan Strait.

The PLA said it conducted precision strikes in specific areas east of the Taiwan Strait on Thursday and multiple conventional missile launches that afternoon.

“The images of the strike captured by the drones in real time show that the rockets accurately hit the target,” the report said.

Three PLA drones were spotted flying over waters off the northeast coast of Taiwan while the PLA was staging live-fire drills encircling the self-ruled island on Thursday.

In a statement issued on Friday, Japan’s Joint Staff Office said two unmanned aerial vehicles – identified as a BZK-005 reconnaissance and a TB-001 reconnaissance-attack drone – headed towards the East China Sea during the day on Thursday.

Three French-made Mirage 2000 fighter jets taxi in front of a hangar at the Hsinchu Air Base in Hsinchu on August 5, 2022. Photo: AFP

Three French-made Mirage 2000 fighter jets taxi in front of a hangar at the Hsinchu Air Base in Hsinchu on August 5, 2022. Photo: AFP

Another unidentified UAV, presumed to be a PLA drone, flew from the East China Sea and circled the high seas off the northeast coast of Taiwan, it said, adding that the Japan Self Defence Force scrambled fighter jets in responses.

A drone from mainland China was detected flying over Quemoy, Taiwan, on Wednesday night – hours after Pelosi departed the island from the trip that angered Beijing.

The war games will continue until noon on Sunday.

Who will fly Taiwan’s fighter jets? Pilot shortage dire as PLA tests defences

5 Aug 2022

Image

 

‘Disproportionate and unjustified’: US

China’s firing of missiles around Taiwan was a disproportionate, significant and unjustified escalation and the United States had made it repeatedly clear to China it was not seeking a crisis, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Friday.

Blinken told a news conference on the sidelines of the Asean Regional Forum that the United States would not be provoked by China and Washington was seriously concerned, adding “there was no possible justification for what they have done”.

White House condemns Chinese missile launches over Taiwan as ‘significant escalation’

0:00 / 2:22

White House condemns Chinese missile launches over Taiwan as ‘significant escalation’

Beijing protests to European envoys

Beijing summoned a number of European envoys on Thursday to protest against statements by G7 foreign ministers and the EU high representative on Taiwan, its foreign ministry said on Friday.

Deng Li, a vice-foreign minister in charge of European matters, told the European diplomats the statement was a “political provocation” to the Chinese side and a “wrong signal” sent to “separatist forces in Taiwan”, according to an official readout from the ministry.

“The European side has not only condemned the US for inciting separation of China and intensifying tensions in the Taiwan Strait, but also said it would stick to the one China policy ‘where applicable’,” he said.

He said the statement severely undermined the “political basis” of the bilateral ties.

Asean urges restraint as China holds war games after Pelosi’s Taiwan trip

5 Aug 2022

Image

 

The statement by G7 foreign ministers and the EU High Representative called on China “not to unilaterally change the status quo by force in the region”.

Deng also summoned Japan’s top envoy in Beijing for a similar protest. He added that since Japan had colonised Taiwan for a long period, it should be even more careful on Taiwan-related remarks since Tokyo bore a “serious historical guilt” on the issue.

PLA military helicopters fly past Pingtan Island on day 1 of military drills on Thursday. Photo: AFP

PLA military helicopters fly past Pingtan Island on day 1 of military drills on Thursday. Photo: AFP

Air-launched missiles

On Thursday, Beijing said it had conducted precision strikes in specific areas east of the Taiwan Strait and multiple conventional missile launches near the island.

The strikes mark the first time PLA missiles have flown over Taiwan since the cross-strait crisis of 1995-1996, when Beijing fired missiles in retaliation for a visit by then-president Lee Teng-hui to the United States.

Analysts said the PLA could send bombers with air-launched missiles, such as long-range CJ-20 cruise missiles.

The CJ-20 has a range of around 2,000km (1,240 miles) and is a variant of the CJ-10, a second-generation ground-based land-attack missile.

Beijing’s war games after Pelosi’s Taiwan trip spark South China Sea concerns

5 Aug 2022

Image

 

Japan concerned about missiles

Japan’s prime minister on Friday condemned China’s firing of ballistic missiles during military drills around Taiwan, calling them a “serious problem that impacts our national security and the safety of our citizens”.

Tokyo said five Chinese missiles appeared to have fallen in the country’s exclusive economic zone, with four of those believed to have flown over Taiwan’s main island.

“China’s actions this time around have a serious impact on the peace and stability of our region and the international community,” Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told reporters after meeting Pelosi for breakfast.

“I told her that we have called for the immediate cancellation of the military drills.”

People living in mainland China’s Xiamen city react to PLA drills and Pelosi visit to Taiwan

 

 

0:00 / 2:30

People living in mainland China’s Xiamen city react to PLA drills and Pelosi visit to Taiwan

Carriers leave home

The PLA’s two aircraft carriers have reportedly left their home ports but have not been seen near the island yet.

The aircraft carrier Liaoning left Qingdao, Shandong province, on Sunday while the Shandong set out from Sanya, Hainan province, on Monday, according to Taiwanese media.

Photos circulating on social media indicated the Liaoning returned to Qingdao on Thursday but this could not be verified.

Share This