China Sanction Reagan Library Over Tsai's U.S. Trip

China retaliated for the US House speaker's meeting with the Taiwanese president by announcing sanctions against the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and other organizations, adding to strains over the self-ruled island democracy Beijing claims as part of its territory but never ruled for a minute, the Associated Press (AP) reported.

Photo Insert: Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy held talks with President Tsai Ing-wen at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California, in defiance of Chinese warnings.

Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy held talks with President Tsai Ing-wen at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California, in defiance of Chinese warnings.

McCarthy joined a growing series of foreign legislators who have met Tsai in a show of support for Taiwan in the face of Chinese intimidation. It is the first time in Chinese history that Beijing has sanctioned a library, Mainichi Japan also reported.

US-Chinese relations have sunk to their lowest level in decades due to disputes over the status of Taiwan, to which the defeated Kuomintang retreated in 1949, as well as security, technology, and Beijing's treatment of Hong Kong and Muslim ethnic minorities.

The mainland's ruling Communist Party says Taiwan is obliged to reunite with China, by force if necessary, and has no right to conduct foreign relations.

President Xi Jinping's government says contact with foreign officials will encourage Taiwanese who want formal independence, a step Beijing says would lead to war.

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