China Summons US Ambassador Overnight, Says Washington “Must Pay The Price”
by Zero Hedge August 3rd 2022, 4:36 am
Update(1545ET): It’s the middle of the night local time, but China has announced the foreign ministry has summoned US Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns in order to “protest” Pelosi’s landing in Taiwan, where she’s due to meet with Tsai Ing-wen in the morning. This as PLA military drills surrounding the self-ruled island are reported to be ongoing, including ‘live fire’ exercises.
According to a readout in state-run Global Times, “China’s Vice Foreign Minister Xie Feng summoned US Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns overnight to protest against US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan island late Tuesday night, stressing that the nature of Pelosi’s visit is extremely vicious and the consequence is very grave. The Chinese side will not sit idly by.”
Further GT writes, “Noting that the US government should have restrained Pelosi’s unscrupulous move and prevented her from going against the historical trend but instead indulged her and colluded with her, which exacerbates the tension in the Taiwan Straits and seriously damages China-US ties, Xie said the US must pay the price for its own mistake. China will take necessary and resolute countermeasures and we mean what we say.”
This “pay the price” warning will likely only be revealed in full, in terms of the options Beijing has in store for both Washington and Taipei, in the coming days or even weeks after Pelosi departs tomorrow.
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Update(1308ET): In the overnight hours (local time), Taiwan’s Defense Ministry has issued a response to the large-scale PLA drills in surrounding waters: “We are fully aware of military activities near Taiwan and will send our forces as appropriate in response to enemy threats.”
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