Tea, honey, fruit imports halted: Know how China is ‘punishing’ Taiwan over US Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit

United States Speaker Nancy Pelosi decided to visit Taiwan representing her country’s stance on its conflict with China, to which the neighbouring country decided to respond in a seemingly hostile manner by alerting its military and sending in armoured planes to the Taiwanese air space.

China was angered over Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan and decided to send in as many as 21 planes into the Taiwanese air space just as the US speaker landed, out of which at least 16 were military jets. Army contingents were also deployed near the borders in a show of strength and intimidation.

Now, China has also imposed several harsh orders on the import and export norms with Taiwan, suspending and halting the transportation of several essential goods as a potential punishment to the Taiwanese government for Pelosi’s visit.

According to AFP, Beijing has issued new orders on the import of fruit and fish from Taiwan while halting shipments of sand to the island on the same day that US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited the self-ruled nation to show her support.

US Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who is second in line to the presidency and the highest-profile elected US official to visit Taiwan in 25 years, sparked a conflict between the two nations with her visit to Taiwan, urging the Chinese authorities to deploy military near the borders.

China's Customs Administration has said that the import of some citrus fruits and fishery from Taiwan will be suspended due to the “repeated detection of pesticides” and positive Covid-19 detection on the packages sent by the island nation.

Further, China also decided to stop the export of natural sand to Taiwan from Wednesday, without citing any reasons or details. The import suspensions from Taiwan include several daily products such as fruits, tea and honey, among other items.

Opposing the One China policy, Taiwan has decided to recognize itself as a self-ruled nation, despite the neighbouring country claiming it as a part of China. Now, Pelosi’s visit and support for Taiwan has kicked up a storm in China, threatening their stance on the conflict.

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