China sanctions groups, Taiwan official in US in response to meet

China announced sanctions Friday against two Asia-based organisations and Taiwan's representative in the US in response to the closely watched meeting this week between the US House Speaker and Taiwan's president.

The Prospect Foundation and the Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats were being sanctioned for their involvement in promoting Taiwan independence under the guise of academic and research exchanges," China's Taiwan Affairs Office spokesperson, Zhu Fenglian, said.

Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy held talks with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen in California this week in a rare high-level, bipartisan meeting on US soil.

The meeting came as US-China relations have sunk to historic lows and as tensions between Taiwan and China have risen. China views any official exchanges between foreign governments and Taiwan as an attempt to raise Taipei's global status, and thus an infringement on Beijing's claims of sovereignty over the island.

China had vowed countermeasures .