(CNN) China has slapped sanctions on two American organizations that hosted Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen during her recent trip to the United States, which Beijing has strongly condemned.
China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on Friday the The think tank Hudson Institute based in Washington and the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California will be prohibited from any cooperation, exchange or transaction with Chinese institutions and individuals.
Key leaders in organizations can do the same banned from visiting China, unable to transact or cooperate with organizations or individuals there, and have any assets in the country frozen, the statement said.
“The Hudson Institute and the Reagan Library provide a platform and facilitate Tsai’s separatist activities… which seriously undermine China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” the ministry said, using a term often used to criticize the actions of the leader of Taiwan.
The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library was the site of a meeting between Tsai and US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Wednesday — the first time a Taiwanese president has met a US Speaker on American soil.
And last week, the Hudson Institute presented a Global Leadership Award to Tsai in New York City.
Both occurred during stops in the course of the President’s 10-day international tour of Taiwan, which includes official visits to Central America.
CNN has reached out for comment to the Hudson Institute and the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. It is unclear whether the organization or its leaders have assets or cooperation with China that would be affected.
China has repeatedly said it will take “resolute and strong measures” in response to Tsai’s meeting with McCarthy.
The Chinese Communist Party claims Taiwan’s self-governing democracy as its own even though it does not control it, and has vowed to take the island, by force if necessary.
China also imposed sanctions on two Taiwanese organizations, The Prospect Foundation and Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats, on Friday, according to the Taiwan Affairs Office.
A spokesman accused Taiwanese independence groups and said they could not cooperate with mainland organizations and individuals. Their directors are also banned from entering the mainland.
Hsiao Bi-khim, Taiwan’s representative to the US, was also hit with sanctions on Friday, according to Chinese state media. Hsiao was previously allowed in China in August, following US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to the island. On his Twitter account on Friday, Hsiao reacted to the sanctions saying, “Wow, the PRC just punished me, for the second time.”
Taiwan’s foreign ministry responded later on Friday calling China’s decision to impose new sanctions on Tsai’s meeting with McCarthy “irrational and unreasonable.”
It is Taiwan’s “fundamental right” to conduct diplomatic activities abroad, and “coercion and repression” from Beijing will only enhance its “insistence on freedom and democracy,” the statement said.
Beijing’s overall response to the latest meeting seemed muted compared to its actions after Pelosi’s visit.
Then, Beijing launched a series of military exercises around the island after the Speaker’s departure and suspended several lines of communication with Washington.
This time there was little clear military response on the island, which saw regular incursions into the air defense identification zone and patrols in the surrounding waters by the Chinese military.
Before the meeting between Tsai and McCarthy, Taiwan’s Ministry of Defense said it had tracked a group of Chinese aircraft carriers, led by the carrier Shandong, that had passed through waters southeast of Taiwan for training in the Western Pacific.
China’s retaliation against US organizations comes at a tense time between the two powers, which are struggling to strengthen their relationship amid friction over various issues.
Among them is strengthened American support for Taiwan in the face of increasing military, economic and diplomatic pressure on the island democracy from Beijing.
On Friday, US Republican congressman Michael McCaul, who is currently visiting Taiwan, said that speeding up the delivery of weapons to the island is “very important” in building deterrence against China.
The chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee told reporters that “we are doing everything in our power to facilitate [weapon delivery],” and that the bipartisan congressional delegation that he led “in broad agreement that it must be done, to provide restraint to Taiwan to promote peace in the region.”
McCaul said potential ways to do this include reprioritizing arms sales to Taiwan or through third-party sales.
The US maintains an unofficial relationship with Taiwan and Tsai transits the country so it is not an official visit to keep Washington aligned with its long-standing “One China” policy.
Under the policy, the US recognizes China’s position that Taiwan is part of China, but has never officially recognized Beijing’s claim to the island of 23 million.
Tsai is expected to return to Taiwan on Friday.
Eric Cheung of CNN in Taipei and Wayne Chang of CNN in Hong Kong contributed reporting.