Beijing (EFE).- China today announced the imposition of sanctions against the Hudson Institute and the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library for “providing a platform” for Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen to “participate in separatist activities” during her recent stay in United States.
“The activities held there seriously damaged China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. We will restrict exchanges between universities, organizations and individuals in our country with these institutions,” the Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
China also today announced sanctions against Taiwan’s representative to the US, Hsiao Bi-khim, after condemning the stay and activities of Tsai, who met with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Wednesday.
Tsai delivered a speech Thursday at a symposium organized by the Hudson Institute, which awarded her its Global Leadership Award, as well as meeting with US lawmakers at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California.
The Asian country also sanctions John Walters, director of the Hudson Institute; Sarah Stern, chair of the board of directors of the Hudson Institute; John Heubusch, executive director of the Reagan Library; and Joanne Drake, the center’s chief administrative officer.
China will freeze the assets of these people within its territory, will prohibit them from carrying out activities with Chinese institutions and will deny them visas to enter the country.
Beijing on Thursday condemned the stay and activities of President Tsai in the US, a country it accused of “collusion” with Taiwan, while advancing that it will respond with “resolute and effective measures to safeguard national sovereignty and integrity territorial”.
For its part, the US asked the Asian country “not to overreact” to the meeting and insisted that the Taiwanese president’s passage through its territory is “a stopover” on her trip to Central America, according to the White House spokeswoman. , Karine Jean-Pierre.
The situation is reminiscent of the one that occurred last August, when the visit to Taiwan by the then Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, enraged Beijing, which described it as a “farce” and “deplorable betrayal.”
In response, China imposed sanctions on Pelosi, suspended dialogue with the US in several important areas and carried out military exercises in the Taiwan Strait of an intensity unprecedented in decades.
The island is one of the biggest sources of conflict between China and the United States, mainly because Washington is Taiwan’s main arms supplier and would be its biggest military ally in the event of a war with China.
China claims sovereignty over Taiwan, which it views as a rogue province since Kuomintang nationalists withdrew there in 1949 after losing the civil war to the communist army.