China on Friday suspended cooperation with the United States on global warming and other areas, an “irresponsible” decision according to Washington that urged Beijing to end military exercises that began around Taiwan to ease tensions.
A few days after the US House of Representatives’ visit to Taiwan, China’s Foreign Ministry said that Beijing would “suspend negotiations between China and the United States on climate change” and cancel talks between military leaders as well as two meetings on security. Nancy Pelosi. He criticized the latter for treating China’s opposition to his visit with “disdain”.
China and the United States, the two largest emitters of greenhouse gases, struck a surprising climate deal at the summit. COP26 in Glasgow last year. They pledged to work together to accelerate climate action over the next decade and meet regularly to “address the climate crisis.”
The State Department also said it would suspend cooperation with Washington on repatriation of illegal immigrants, as well as justice, cross-border crime and counter-narcotics.
Suspending the debate on climate change was “fundamentally irresponsible,” said the spokesman for the US Executive for National Security Affairs, John Kirby. “China is not only punishing the United States, it is punishing the whole world,” he added.
For his part, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed his dissatisfaction. “For him, it is impossible to solve the world’s most pressing problems without effective dialogue and cooperation between the two countries,” his spokesman said.
“calming tone”
The United States has also called on China to end its military exercises since Nancy Pelosi’s controversial visit to Taiwan. “The Chinese can do a lot to reduce tensions by stopping provocative military exercises and calming the tone,” said John Kirby.
Mobilizing aircraft and warships, China’s largest ever military exercise, near Taiwan, in response to M .’s flightI This week, Pelosi continued Friday for the second day in a row, as Taipei criticized the maneuvers that have virtually surrounded him for three days.
The White House had earlier summoned the Chinese ambassador to Washington, and condemned “the irresponsible Chinese military actions that run counter to our long-standing goal of maintaining peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait,” according to Mr. Kirby.
China’s top diplomat, Wang Yi, responded by accusing the United States of being “used to creating a problem and then using that problem to achieve its ends.”
The military exercises will continue until noon on Sunday.
“Midline”
According to Taipei, as of 5 pm Friday ( 5 am Montreal time), 68 Chinese planes and 13 warships have crossed the “middle line” of the Taiwan Strait, which separates the mainland island.
The day before, Beijing had already launched dozens of ballistic missiles and deployed its air and naval forces in the six maritime zones selected for exercises across Taiwan, coming as close as 20 kilometers from the coast and disrupting trade routes between the world’s busiest regions. . “We never expected our malicious neighbor to flaunt his power at our doorstep, and arbitrarily endanger the world’s busiest waterway with his military exercises,” the Taiwanese premier told reporters.
State broadcaster CCTV claimed that Chinese missiles flew over Taiwan for the first time; Taipei has not confirmed.
On the Chinese island of Pingtan, not far from the ongoing exercises, AFP journalists saw a fighter plane in the sky at noon on Friday. Carrying umbrellas to protect themselves from the scorching sun, the tourists tried to take pictures of the device while a Chinese military ship was spotted in the Taiwan Strait.
Japan has expressed an official diplomatic protest against Beijing, arguing that five of the Chinese missiles fell within its exclusive economic zone.
In Tokyo, the last leg of her eventful Asian tour, MI Pelosi stressed that the United States “will not allow” China to isolate Taiwan, stressing that his move “is not intended to change the status quo here in Asia, to change the status quo in Taiwan.”
Analysts agree that despite these military exercises, Beijing does not want an armed confrontation for the time being. “The last thing Xi wants is for an accidental war,” Titus Chen, a professor at Taiwan’s National Sun Yat-sen University, told AFP.
