CHINA vowed today to take “forceful” measures over a meeting took place between US House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy and Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen. 

Beijing warned the US that it was taking a “wrong and dangerous road.”

Mr McCarthy, flanked by more than a dozen legislators from both of the main US parties, met Ms Tsai on Wednesday at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California.

US President Joe Biden has claimed there was nothing provocative about her visit, even though it took place with the relationship between the US and China at a historic low, with Washington’s support for the breakaway Chinese island of Taiwan being one of the main flashpoints.

A statement issued today by the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs warned of “resolute and forceful measures to defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

Beijing’s Taiwan Affairs Office added: “We will take resolute measures to punish the ‘Taiwan independence’ separatist forces and their actions and resolutely safeguard our country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

“America’s support for the people of Taiwan will remain resolute, unwavering and bipartisan,” Mr McCarthy said at a news conference after his meeting with Ms Tsai.

She responded that this “unwavering support reassures the people of Taiwan that we are not isolated.”