China announces sanctions against Nancy Pelosi

Chinese foreign ministry has announced it will issue sanctions against US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her direct family relatives after she travelled to Taiwan this week.

The ministry said Pelosi’s trip to Taiwan was a serious violation of China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and a serious violation of the one-China principle.

Pelosi arrived in Taiwan on Tuesday night and met officials, including Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, before flying out on Wednesday afternoon. The trip was a stop on her Asian tour and drew the ire of Beijing.

Taiwanese leader says island ‘won’t provoke but will firmly defend’ amid mainland military drills

Websites in Taiwan, including those of its defence and foreign affairs ministries, have gone offline amid heightened tension with Beijing and as mainland China holds military exercises in areas surrounding the island.

Several government websites in Taiwan have been subjected to cyberattacks in the days following the arrival of Pelosi in Taiwan.

The websites of Taiwan’s National Defence Ministry and Foreign Affairs Ministry went down in the early hours of Friday but were soon back online. Both sites were also inaccessible late on Wednesday night.

Taiwan’s Chi Yang-class frigate Ning Yang is anchored at a harbour in Keelung city, Taiwan, on Friday. Beijing’s military started to a series of live-fire drills in six maritime areas around Taiwan’s main island to run until Sunday.

Lo Ping-cheng, Taiwan Cabinet spokesman, said on Thursday attack traffic during this period was about twice as high as past attacks.

“The peak was on Tuesday, and the attack traffic was 23 times the previous peak,” Lo said.

Lo said targets of recent cyberattacks on government departments include Taiwan’s presidential office and the defence and foreign affairs ministries.