China imposes sanctions after Taiwanese president’s visit to US

China has imposed sanctions on US organizers of events featuring Tsai Ing-wen in protest of the Taiwanese president’s visit to the US. The State Department in Beijing said Friday that the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California, where a meeting between Tsai and U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy took place, will be fined.

Sanctions were also imposed on the Hudson Institute and its officials. The think tank presented an award to the President of Taiwan. Tsai gave a speech at the ceremony in New York.

Both institutions have provided the Taiwanese president with “a platform and facilities for her separatist activities for Taiwan’s independence from the United States,” according to the State Department. By doing so, they would have violated Beijing’s One China Doctrine and agreements with the United States. They would also have seriously damaged China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. Universities, organizations and individuals in China will be banned from collaboration and other activities with either institution in the United States, the release said.

While traveling to Central America, the President of Taiwan, like her predecessors, made private stopovers in the US. China had protested and announced countermeasures. The Chinese leadership sees the democratic island republic as just part of the People’s Republic and seeks to isolate Taiwan internationally. All official contacts from other countries to Taipei are rejected. (sda/dpa)