The decision to invite Chin came after days of warnings to China not to escalate tensions in the region following the speaker’s visit to the self-ruled island, which the Chinese Communist Party considers its territory, although it has never controlled it. It represents a shift from the White House’s stance on the trip before it took place, when officials tried privately to warn Pelosi about the potential consequences of the visit and how it could damage US-China relations. The meeting was first reported by the Washington Post. In the days since Pelosi left Taiwan, China has taken multiple belligerent steps, both diplomatic and military. On the diplomatic front, Beijing is imposing sanctions on Pelosi and her family and said Friday it would suspend cooperation with Washington on several issues, including combating the climate crisis. The suspension of climate talks between the US and China is symbolically important to the two nations’ bilateral relationship because the climate crisis has been one of the few areas in which the US and China have continued to cooperate in recent years, even during periods increased geopolitical tensions. . The US and China announced in Glasgow last year a bilateral agreement to cooperate on the climate crisis, which is widely seen as a progressive step that will allow China to work on key issues — such as reducing methane emissions — without having to join global agreements it had shown resistance to. The nations’ climate representatives have been in regular communication to build on this agreement. Taiwan’s defense ministry said Chinese warships and aircraft conducted exercises in the waters around the island and that Chinese forces crossed the median line — halfway between the island and mainland China — in a move the ministry called it a “highly provocative act”. Two Chinese drones also flew near Japan on Thursday, prompting the country’s Air Self-Defense Force to counter with fighter jets in response, according to a statement from Tokyo’s defense ministry. Kirby said the White House told China the US does not want a crisis in the region and reiterated that there has been no change in the US ‘One China’ policy and that Washington recognizes the People’s Republic of China as its only legitimate government. China. “We have also made it clear that the United States is prepared for whatever Beijing chooses to do. We will not seek and do not want a crisis. At the same time, we will not be deterred from operating in the seas and skies of the Western Pacific,” according to the international justice, as we have done for decades — supporting Taiwan and defending a free and open Indo-Pacific,” Kirby said in the statement. NSC Coordinator for Indo-Pacific Affairs Kurt Campbell met with Chin, according to a source familiar with the matter. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken told reporters on Friday that the US has repeatedly conveyed to China that “we do not seek and will not provoke a crisis”. He called China’s recent actions “provocative” and a “significant escalation.” The speaker’s visit, he said, was “peaceful” and “this extreme, disproportionate and escalating military response is not justified”. Pelosi, D-Calif., said the visit — the first time a US House speaker has visited Taiwan in 25 years — was intended to make it “unequivocally clear” that the United States “will not abandon” the Taipei. It came at a low point in US-China relations and despite warnings from the Biden administration against visiting the democratically-ruled island. The US maintains close unofficial ties with Taiwan and is bound by law to provide Taiwan with defensive weapons. However, it remains deliberately vague about whether it would defend Taiwan in the event of an invasion by China, a policy known as “strategic ambiguity.” The US has postponed a long-planned missile test amid China’s angry reaction to Pelosi’s trip. A US official told CNN that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has asked the Defense Department to postpone a test flight of an unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile after China began military exercises. A top Chinese embassy official in Washington said Friday that Chin “completely rejected the so-called condemnation” from the White House of China’s military actions in the straits when called upon. “The only way out of this crisis is that the US side must take things immediately to correct its mistakes and eliminate the serious effects of Pelosi’s visit,” Minister Jing Quan said during a virtual briefing. Jing reiterated that China views Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan as a “serious violation of the One China policy.” He said they consider the congressman’s trip an official US government visit, noting that Pelosi flew on a US government plane. The use of a government plane is standard for congressional delegations, especially for the speaker of the House who is high in the line of presidential succession. He argued that Pelosi “knows where China’s red lines are” but said she “chose to deliberately provoke and challenge China’s position.” Kirby on Friday responded to Chin, saying, “There is nothing here for the United States to fix — the Chinese can go a long way to reducing tensions simply by stopping these provocative military exercises and ending the rhetoric.” “We don’t want a crisis. We’re not seeking a crisis and frankly there’s no reason for a crisis to come out of this,” Kirby said in response to a question from CNN’s MJ Lee. He told reporters that the US condemned China’s sanctions on Pelosi and her family and said they were “unwarranted”, arguing that the speaker had “every right to leave”. This story has been updated with additional information.