BEIJING: China on Wednesday warned of resolute measures to fight back if Taiwan regional leader has contact with US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy during her transit in the US, as China firmly opposes any form of official interaction between the US and the Chinese island, opposes the visit of the regional leader to the US in any name or under whatever pretext and opposes the US’ violation of the one-China principle.
While some Western media outlets said that the meeting between the regional leader Tsai Ing-wen and McCarthy has drawn anger from the Chinese mainland and touches a flashpoint in the US-China ties, Chinese experts said since the then-House speaker Nancy Pelosi’s provocative visit to Taiwan in August 2022 changed the status quo of the Taiwan Straits, the mainland has remained vigilant about any interaction between the US and the island and is fully prepared to take any instant reaction any time. Tsai’s trip will also likely draw firm responses from the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA), experts said.
Tsai left on Wednesday for a trip to Central America and she is scheduled to transit through New York first and Los Angeles on the way back, Reuters reported. While not officially confirmed, she is expected to meet McCarthy while in California, the media report said.
“If Taiwan’s regional leader Tsai Ing-wen meets with US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, it would be a provocation that seriously violates the one-China principle, undermines China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity as well as damages peace and stability across the Taiwan Straits. And we will take resolute measures to counter this,” a spokesperson for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council remarked on Wednesday. Tsai’s transit through the US is in essence a provocative act of “seeking independence by relying on the US” and seeking opportunities to sell out the idea of Taiwan secession to the international community as well as solicit support from anti-China forces in the US, said Zhu Fenglian, a spokesperson of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council.
Some US media outlets noted that the trip comes at a sensitive time as US-China relations have been at a low point after the US blatantly shot down a Chinese unmanned airship for civilian use last month and has continued curbing China’s high tech development.
–The Daily Mail-Global Time news exhcange item
