China Sanctions Pelosi In Retaliation For Her Taiwan Trip

US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) attends a press conference at the US Embassy in Tokyo on Aug. 5, 2022, at the end of her Asia tour. (Richard A. Brooks / AFP via Getty Images)

The Chinese regime is imposing sanctions against U.S House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) in retaliation for her defying Beijing by visiting Taiwan.

The sanction targets Pelosi and her direct relatives, a regime’s foreign ministry spokesperson said in a statement on Aug. 5.

“Pelosi insisted on visiting Taiwan in disregard of China’s serious concerns and firm opposition,” read the statement.

The regime blamed Pelosi’s “vicious and provocative actions” by visiting Taiwan, a self-ruled island that Beijing claims as its own territory, to be taken by force if necessary.

Pelosi’s short visit to Taiwan—about 19 hours—drew the wrath of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which opposed any official exchanges with Taipei that might suggest that the island is a de facto nation-state.

The foreign ministry’s announcement came amid growing international condemnation over the CCP’s action of using Pelosi’s visit as a pretext to unleash a torrent of aggressive and retaliatory military, cyber, and trade moves.

On Friday, Beijing continued its military drills around the region, with aircraft and warships crossing the median line of the Taiwan Strait, an unofficial buffer between the two neighbors. It also came a day after the regime launched 11 ballistic missiles into the waters around Taiwan, five of which Japan said landed in its exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

The regime didn’t specify the sanctions in the brief statement.

But shortly after announcing the sanctions, the regime’s foreign ministry said it would stop cooperation with the United States over a series of issues, including climate change, military, and anti-drug measures, in response to Pelosi’s visit.

‘An Excuse’

Pelosi, who was on the last stop of her Asia tour in Japan on Friday, said the journey in Taipei was not aimed at changing the regional status quo but at maintaining ties with democratic Taiwan under the Taiwan Relations Act and U.S.-China policy.

“To that end, as you see, the Chinese made their strikes, probably using our visit as an excuse,” she told reporters in Tokyo.

“They may try to keep Taiwan from visiting or participating in other places, but they will not isolate Taiwan by preventing us to travel there,” she said. “Our friendship with Taiwan is a strong one.”

U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) speaks after receiving the Order of Propitious Clouds with Special Grand Cordon, Taiwan’s highest civilian honor, from Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen (R) at the president's office in Taipei, Taiwan, on Aug. 3, 2022. (Handout/Getty Images)

When asked how she thinks her trip to Asia will impact the Sino-U.S. relationships, Pelosi said the two nations need to maintain communications.

But “if we do not speak out for human rights in China because of commercial interests, we lose all moral authority to speak about human rights any place in the world.”

The lawmaker said that while China has made progress in some areas, it is still a country of “contradictions” and pointed to human rights issues such as the abuse against Uyghurs that Washington and other Western democracies have labeled a genocide

More than one million Uyghur and other Muslim minorities are incarcerated in internment camps in Xinjiang, where they have been subjected to forced sterilization, torture, political indoctrination, and forced labor.

“Again, it isn’t about our visit determining what the U.S.-China relationship is. It’s a much bigger and longer-term challenge, and one that we have to recognize that we have to work together in certain areas,” Pelosi said

Katabella Roberts contributed to the report.