Beijing(China)- China imposed visa bans and other sanctions Tuesday on Taiwanese political figures, raising pressure on the self-governing island and the U.S. in response to successive congressional visits.
The sanctions come a day after China set more military exercises in the seas and skies surrounding Taiwan in response to what it called ācollusion and provocation between the U.S. and Taiwan.ā Thereās been no word on the timing and scale of the Chinese exercises.
They were announced the same day a U.S. congressional delegation met with Taiwanās President Tsai Ing-wen and, after a similar visit by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the highest-level member of the U.S. government, to visit Taiwan in 25 years. The Chinese government objects to Taiwan having any official contact with foreign governments because it considers Taiwan its territory, and its recent sabre rattling has emphasized its threat to take the island by military force.
Pelosiās visit was followed by nearly two weeks of threatening Chinese military exercises that included firing missiles over the island and incursions by navy ships and warplanes across the midline of the Taiwan Strait that has long been a buffer between the sides.
In Washington, U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price told reporters that China had overreacted with its āprovocative and unnecessary response to the congressional delegation that visited Taiwan earlier this month.ā
Chinaās latest sanctions targets include Taiwanās de facto ambassador to the U.S., Bi-Khim Hsiao and legislators Ker Chien-ming, Koo Li-Hsiung, Tsai Chi-chang, Chen Jiau-Hua and Wang Ting-yu, along with activist Lin Fei-fan.
They will be barred from travelling to mainland China, Hong Kong and Macao, and from having any financial or personal connections with people and entities in those areas, according to the ruling Communist Partyās Taiwan Work Office.
The official Xinhua News Agency said that the measures were designed to āresolutely punishā those considered ādiehard elementsā supporting Taiwanās independence.
Premier Su Tseng-chang, leader of the Legislature You Si-Kun and Foreign Minister Joseph Wu, were already on Chinaās sanctions list and will face more restrictions, Xinhua said.
China exercises no legal authority over Taiwan, and itās unclear what effect the sanctions would have. China has refused all contact with Taiwanās government since shortly after the 2016 election of Tsai, who was overwhelmingly reelected in 2020.
Tsaiās pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party also controls the legislature. Most Taiwanese favour maintaining the status-quo of de facto independence amid strong economic and social connections between the sides.
China accuses the U.S. of encouraging the islandās independence through the sale of weapons and engagement between U.S. politicians and the islandās government. Washington says it does not support independence, has no formal diplomatic ties with the island and maintains that the two sides should settle their dispute peacefully ā but it is legally bound to ensure the island can defend itself against any attack.
Taiwan has put its military on alert but has taken no major countermeasures against the Chinese measures. That has been reflected in the overriding calm and enormous spread of ambivalence among the public, who have lived under the threat of Chinese attack for more than seven decades.
Taiwan announced air force and ground-to-air missile drills for Thursday and Friday.