Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani has cancelled his trip to Paris after a French minister said Premier Giorgia Meloni “is incapable of resolving the migration problems for which she was elected."
China claims sovereignty over Taiwan, which it considers a rogue province.
The United States meanwhile has long maintained a "strategic ambiguity" on the matter, trying to dissuade China from invading the island, while at the same time discouraging Taiwanese leaders from declaring independence.
After a surreal weekend, in which three aerial devices were downed over America, National security spokesman John Kirby put rumours to bed of extra-terrestrial involvement but said the US has uncovered a Chinese intelligence-gathering programme.