• China has suspended cooperation with the United States in a number of critical areas.
• New measures are the result of a visit to Taiwan by a US senior Democrat Nancy Pelosi.
• China sees the visit as a challenge to its claims of sovereignty over Taiwan.

China has suspended cooperation with the United States in a number of critical areas, including climate change, military talks, and efforts to combat international crime.

The new measures are the result of a visit to Taiwan by a US congressional delegation led by senior Democrat Nancy Pelosi.

China, which also sanctioned Ms. Pelosi and her family, sees the visit as a challenge to its claims of sovereignty over Taiwan.

The self-governing island considers itself distinct from the mainland.

China’s foreign ministry announced the measures on Friday. It stated that dialogue between US and Chinese defence officials would be suspended, as would cooperation on returning illegal immigrants, climate change, and investigating international crime.

In recent years, the two major powers have maintained cordial diplomatic ties on the importance of combating climate change. At last year’s climate summit in Glasgow, China pledged to work  “with urgency”  with the United States to reduce emissions.

The countries have also discovered a rare common cause in their efforts to combat the illegal drug trade, such as fentanyl.

The decision to halt cooperation was made because Ms Pelosi visited Taiwan “despite China’s strong opposition and serious representations,” according to a statement from the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

It also accused the US delegation and Ms Pelosi of “egregious provocations,” as she is the highest-ranking US politician to visit the island in 25 years.

In a message posted on Twitter on Friday, Hua Chunying, a spokesperson for China’s foreign ministry, compared US foreign policy to the police killing of George Floyd, an unarmed black American whose death in 2020 sparked global anti-racism protests.

“We cannot allow the US to take itself as ‘world policeman’ and treat other countries as George Floyd whom it can bully and strangle at will,”  she wrote.

Later that afternoon, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Pelosi “had every right” to visit Taiwan and that China’s new measures were “fundamentally irresponsible.”

“We’ll continue our efforts to keep open lines of communications with Beijing, while defending our interests and values,”she said.

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