China foreign minister calls Pelosi's Taiwan visit 'manic', 'irrational'

BEIJING, China

China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Thursday called U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan a "manic, irresponsible and highly irrational" action by the United States, state broadcaster CCTV reported.

Wang, speaking at the ASEAN Foreign Ministers meeting in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, said China has made the utmost diplomatic effort to avert crisis, but will never allow its core interests to be hurt.

China's current and future measures are necessary and timely defensive countermeasures, carefully considered and evaluated, aimed at safeguarding national sovereignty and security, in line with international and domestic law, CCTV cited Wang as saying.

United States House Speaker Nancy Pelosi landed in Taiwan on Tuesday evening, defying a string of increasingly stark warnings and threats from China that have sent tensions between the world's two superpowers soaring.

Pelosi, second in line to the presidency, is the highest-profile elected US official to visit Taiwan in 25 years and Beijing has made clear that it regards her presence as a major provocation, setting the region on edge.

Live television images showed the 82-year-old lawmaker, who flew on a US military aircraft into Taipei Songshan Airport, being greeted on arrival by foreign minister Joseph Wu.

Pelosi is currently on a tour of Asia and while neither she nor her office confirmed the Taipei visit, multiple US and Taiwanese media outlets reported it was on the cards -- triggering days of anger from Beijing.

Chinese warplanes buzzed the line dividing the Taiwan Strait on Tuesday shortly before the expected arrival in Taipei of Pelosi for a visit that has pushed friction between Washington and Beijing to a new level.

The Chinese leadership has repeatedly warned against Pelosi, a long-time critic of Beijing, making a trip to self-ruled Taiwan, which China claims as its own.