NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
China has announced sanctions against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and her family, following her visit to Taiwan which China strongly condemned.
China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson announced the sanctions on Friday, calling Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan an “egregious provocation” and a “gross interference” into the country’s internal affairs.
“In disregard of China’s grave concerns and firm opposition, Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi insisted on visiting China’s Taiwan region. This constitutes a gross interference in China’s internal affairs,” the spokesperson said. “It gravely undermines China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, seriously tramples on the one-China principle, and severely threatens peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.”
“In response to Pelosi’s egregious provocation, China decides to adopt sanctions on Pelosi and her immediate family members in accordance with relevant laws of the People’s Republic of China,” they added.
The statement was also shared by CCTV News, a state media outlet, and on China’s own social media platform Weibo.
After leaving Taiwan, Pelosi landed in Tokyo on Thursday, where she clarified her visit to the region was not intended to disrupt the “status quo.”
“Our representation here is not about changing the status quo here in Asia, changing the status quo of Taiwan. It’s about again the Taiwan relations and the U.S.-China policy, all of the pieces of legislation and agreements that have established what our relationship is, to have peace in the Taiwan Straits and to have the status quo prevail,” she said during a news conference with at the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
At the press conference, Pelosi also said China would not be successful in isolating Taiwan from the rest of the world.
“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,” Pelosi said. “We will not allow them to isolate Taiwan,” she added.