China warned on Wednesday that it would take “resolute countermeasures” if Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) meets with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen as she passes through the U.S. during a trip to Central America.
“We firmly oppose this and will take resolute countermeasures,” Zhu Fenglian, a spokesperson for China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, said ahead of Tsai’s trip, according to The Associated Press.
Zhu also said the U.S. should “refrain from arranging Tsai Ing-wen’s transit visits and even contact with American officials, and take concrete actions to fulfill its solemn commitment not to support Taiwan independence.”
Reuters noted that Zhu added that if Tsai has contact with McCarthy, “it will 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.”
Tsai plans to pass through New York and Los Angeles either before or after a 10-day trip to Guatemala and Belize this week and is widely expected to meet with McCarthy while in California.
She struck a defiant tone before boarding her plane to New York on Wednesday.
“I want to tell the whole world democratic Taiwan will resolutely safeguard the values of freedom and democracy, and will continue to be a force for good in the world, continuing a cycle of goodness, strengthening the resilience of democracy in the world,” she said, according to the AP.
“External pressure will not obstruct our resolution to engage with the world.”
Beijing conducted large-scale military exercises around the self-governing island after former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) visited Taiwan last August.