US Congressional Visit to Taiwan Violates PRC's Sovereignty, Territorial Integrity, Chinese MoD Says

Earlier, amid soaring tensions with Washington, China kicked off large-scale drills ringing Taiwan in response to a visit to the island by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in violation of agreements underpinning China-US relations.

China’s Ministry of Defense has slammed the visit of a US congressional delegation to Taiwan as violating the People's Republic of China's (PRC) sovereignty and territorial integrity.

"This [visit] seriously violates the 'One China' principle and the provisions of the three joint China-US communiques, violates the sovereignty and territorial integrity of China, sends the wrong signal to separatist forces advocating Taiwan's independence, completely exposes the face of the United States as the destroyer of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait," the official MoD spokesperson Wu Qian said in a statement.

China's People's Liberation Army organized joint combat exercises and patrols around Taiwan in response to 'collusion' between Taipei and Washington, Wu Qian underscored on the official WeChat account of the MoD.

Beijing also warned Washington and Taipei that attempts to use the island to 'control China' were doomed to fail.

Earlier, a delegation of US lawmakers arrived in Taiwan on Sunday for a two-day visit, led by Democratic Senator Ed Markey and Representatives Alan Lowenthal, Don Beyer and Aumua Amata.

The delegation was scheduled to meet Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu and local lawmakers, according to a Foreign Ministry statement.

The American Institute in Taiwan indicated that the visit was part of the lawmakers' broader trip to Asia, with Markey and his colleagues anticipated to discuss US-Taiwan ties, security, trade and investment, global supply chains, climate, and other matters.

The People's Republic of China considers Taiwan - governed independently since breaking from mainland China in 1949 - its sovereign territory, destined for formal reunification with the mainland under the "One Country - Two Systems" model.

Accordingly, any attempts by US political figures to meet with Taiwanese officials are deemed by beijing as a violation of the One China Policy underpinning China-US relations, which require Washington to refrain from recognizing the island's self-governing status.

However, in what was slammed by Beijung as a povocative move, in early August, US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taipei on August 2-3 during her Asian tour. She became the first high-ranking American official to visit the island for 25 years.

Pelosi said later that her foray was intended to demonstrate a strong relationship based the status quo.

"In terms of Taiwan, our purpose in going to Taiwan was to say that we have a strong relationship built on the status quo, which we support," Pelosi said at a subsequent press conference.

The Biden administration also defended the trip, arguing that it did not deviate from historic norms of the relationship between the US, China and Taiwan.

However, Beijing strongly disagreed with that assessment, slamming Pelosi's visit to the island as violating Chinese sovereignty. The move set off a cascade of retaliatory moves by China, such as large-scale drills ringing Taiwan. The PRC also slapped the lawmaker and her family with personal sanctions, while freezing ties with the US in eight fields, including cooperation on climate change, transnational crime, and military-to-military dialogue.