China warned U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Tuesday against "repeating the catastrophic mistakes of the past" by meeting with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, stating that it "will not contribute to regional peace and stability but will only unite the Chinese people against a common enemy."
McCarthy, a Republican and the third-highest official in the U.S. after the President and Vice President, is set to meet Tsai in California on Wednesday during her sensitive visit to the United States, which has prompted China to issue threats of retaliatory response.
Tsai is making what is officially called a "stopover" in Los Angeles on her way back to Taipei after a trip to Central America. The U.S. maintains that such transit stops are common and that there is no need for China to overreact.
The Taiwanese Foreign Ministry stated in a statement on Tuesday that China has no right to object, as the People's Republic of China has never governed the island. It considered China's latest criticisms of Tsai's trip to be "increasingly ridiculous."
The statement affirmed that "even if the dictatorial government continues its expansion and increases its oppression, Taiwan will not retreat."
However, the Chinese consulate in Los Angeles deemed it "wrong" to describe this as merely a stopover, adding that Tsai is participating in formal meetings for a "political show."
The consulate stated that any meeting between McCarthy and Tsai, regardless of the title, would be viewed as a move that severely injures the feelings of the Chinese people and sends a dangerous and incorrect message to separatist forces in Taiwan, impacting the political basis of Sino-American relations.
It remarked that this would not contribute to regional peace, security, and stability, nor serve the common interests of the people of China and the United States.
The consulate asserted that McCarthy is ignoring the lessons from the mistakes of his predecessors and insists on playing the "Taiwan card," referencing former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taipei.
Beijing stated that it would closely monitor developments and firmly defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity without elaborating further. China, which claims Taiwan as part of its territory, conducted military exercises around the island in August after Pelosi's visit to the capital Taipei.
