As Taiwanese President Tsai is due to depart on Wednesday for a trip to Guatemala and Belize that will see her transit through New York and Los Angeles, China on Wednesday threatened to retaliate if United States House Speaker Kevin McCarthy meets Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen during her planned transit of the US next month, by saying any such move would be a provocation.
Speaking to reporters in Beijing, China’s Taiwan Affairs Office spokesperson Zhu Fenglian said that Tsai’s transits of the US were not just her waiting at the airport or hotel, but for her to meet American officials and lawmakers.
Fenglian said that if Tsai has contact with McCarthy, it would be another provocation that seriously violates the one-China principle, harms China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and destroys peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.

“We firmly oppose this and will definitely take measures to resolutely fight back,” the spokesperson added. The Taiwanese president’s transits come at a time when US relations with China are at their worst level since Washington normalised ties with Beijing in 1979 and switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei.

And President Tsai’s trip also comes after Honduras said that it was switching recognition to China. Only 13 countries, including Guatemala and Belize, officially recognise Taiwan over China. Beijing has repeatedly warned US officials not to meet Tsai, viewing it as support for Taiwan’s desire to be seen as a separate country.

In August last year, China staged war games around Taiwan when then-US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taipei.

China should not ‘overreact’ to stopover: Washington
A senior US official said early Wednesday that China should not “overreact” to Taiwanese President Tsai’s stopover in the US, the news agency AFP reported. “There’s absolutely no reason for China to use that as a pretext to overreact or to engage in further coercion directed at Taiwan,” the official, who did not wish to be identified, told reporters.
The official added that the US would carry out a transit that is fully consistent with that policy and decades’ worth of practice. The official also pointed out that Beijing would not pressurise Washington “to alter our longstanding practice” on such visits.