SHANGHAI, August 9. /TASS/. The visit US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi made to Taipei did a serious blow to the political basis of relations between China and the United States, Shao Yuqun, director of Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau Studies at the Shanghai Institutes of International Studies (SIIS), told TASS on Tuesday.

The visit "affected Chinese-US relations by seriously undermining the principles of political relations between China and the United States, aggravating the lack of strategic confidence between the two countries and increasing hostility between the two nations," the expert said. Things could get worse unless the United States stops supporting activity aimed at promoting the idea of "Taiwan independence," she warned.

Beijing responded to Pelosi’s visit she made to Taipei on August 2-3 with sanctions on the US high-ranking official and her family, and also suspended a number of intergovernmental mechanisms between the two countries. China’s armed forces launched large-scale military maneuvers with firings of missiles in six areas around Taiwan a day after Pelosi’s visit. The drills originally expected to last till August 7 have been extended for an indefinite period.

The drills, Shao Yuqun said, were in demonstration of military power and sent a warning to all forces active on the island that have been pushing for "Taiwan independence". "This also signals to the United States and its allies in the region, primarily to Japan, that they should refrain from their provocative policies of supporting `Taiwan independence.’ The drills have drawn `a red line’ and have sent a clear political signal," the expert concluded.