Nancy Pelosi.

Photo: File.

China on Friday announced sanctions against the Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, in response to the official's visit to Taiwan,

accusing her of threatening regional peace and stability.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported that the punitive measures are also directed at the immediate relatives of the congresswoman, without specifying what they consist of.

Chinese penalties

typically involve bans on entering the country's mainland, Hong Kong and Macau, as well as restrictions on companies or institutions affiliated with those penalized from doing business there.

The Foreign Ministry argued that Pelosi was in Taiwan without caring about China's concerns and opposition, which constituted a serious display of foreign interference.

It also

defined the action as a provocation that undermined the One China principle, national sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Apart from sanctioning the US legislator, Beijing reacted to her trip with military exercises around Taiwan for four days, punitive measures against individuals, companies and organizations accused of promoting separatism, and a halt to some imports and exports to the island.

On Wednesday Hua Chunying, a spokeswoman for the Foreign Ministry, said that

Pelosi's stay on the island was not a matter of democracy, but of the country's sovereignty and territorial integrity.

He also accused her of leading a political farce and assured that Beijing will proceed with more "decisive, energetic and effective" countermeasures.

For the eastern nation,

the presence in Taipei of the third most important figure in the United States meant raising the level of official exchanges with an inseparable part of its soil.

China thus complies with the warnings issued almost daily since last month and

made it clear to the White House that it will not tolerate further provocations or make concessions on the issue of increased friction and sensitivity of bilateral ties.

An editorial in the China Daily newspaper indicated that Pelosi with her visit uncovered Pandora's Box, since times of uncertainty and high tension are in sight with the most determined Asian giant and enough power to win one of its great causes as a nation.

(With information from Prensa Latina)