China summons US envoy to Beijing over Pelosi’s trip to Taiwan

China has summoned the US ambassador to Beijing over House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s trip to Taiwan.

China’s Foreign Ministry, early on Wednesday local time (Tuesday night GMT), lodged a protest with US Ambassador Nicholas Burns over the unannounced visit by Pelosi to Taiwan which Beijing calls its “breakaway province.”

“The nature of Pelosi’s visit is extremely vicious and the consequence is very grave,” China’s Vice Foreign Minister Xie Feng told Burns.

"The US must pay the price for its own mistake. China will take necessary and resolute countermeasures and we mean what we say," the Chinese diplomat told the US ambassador.

Calling Pelosi's trip an "unscrupulous move," Xie told Burns that the US should have "prevented her (Pelosi) from going against the historical trend but instead indulged her and colluded with her which exacerbates the tension in the Taiwan Straits and seriously damages China-US ties."

“The Chinese side will not sit idly by,” Xie told Burns, saying the visit is “a serious provocation and violation of one-China principle,” Chinese daily Global Times reported.