China defends ditching U.S. talks, says Washington must bear ‘serious consequences’

Reuters:

BEIJING, Aug 8 – China’s defence ministry on Monday defended its shelving of military talks with the United States in protest against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taipei last week, warning that Washington must bear “serious consequences.”

Pelosi’s visit last week infuriated China, which regards the self-ruled island as its own and responded with test launches of ballistic missiles over Taipei for the first time, as well as ditching some lines of dialogue with Washington.

“The current tense situation in the Taiwan Strait is entirely provoked and created by the U.S. side on its own initiative, and the U.S. side must bear full responsibility and serious consequences for this,” defence ministry spokesman Wu Qian said in an online post.

“The bottom line cannot be broken, and communication requires sincerity,” Wu said.

Four days of unprecedented drills were scheduled to end on Sunday. Chinese authorities have not officially confirmed they have ended, amid fears among some security analysts that the situation in the Taiwan Strait, particularly near the unofficial median line buffer, remains tense.