TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan’s envoy to the U.S. Hsiao Bi -khim (蕭美琴) has been sanctioned by China’s Taiwan Work Office for facilitating and accompanying President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on her transits in New York and Los Angeles.

The office on Friday (April 7) accused Hsiao of lobbying for foreign and U.S. support for Taiwan independence and undermining cross-strait peace and stability, Liberty Times reported. It also banned Hsiao and her family members from entering China, Hong Kong, and Macao, as well as blocked her political donors and their related businesses from working with Chinese organizations and individuals.

The office said that pursuing Taiwan independence is “a dead end” and the efforts of “diehard Taiwan independence separatists” relying on outside forces are sure to fail.

Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council said presidential transits in the U.S. are nothing new and that as a sovereign country, Taiwan has the right to engage with friendly nations. China has no right to comment on Taiwan’s diplomatic activities, it said.

Hsiao was also sanctioned in August 2022, following former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan. China labeled her and other Taiwanese officials as “independence diehards.”

Additionally, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs placed sanctions on the Washington, D.C.-based think tank Hudson Institute and the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California, banning them from any cooperation, exchange, or transaction with Chinese institutions. “The Hudson Institute and the Reagan Library have provided a platform and facilitated Tsai’s separatist activities… which seriously undermines China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” the foreign ministry said.

Two Taiwanese organizations, The Prospect Foundation and the Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats, were also sanctioned by China.