Taiwan Photo:VCG

The opening of Taiwan's representative office in the Southern French city of Aix-en-Provence is a provocative action from the gang of Taiwan secessionists, and the dangerous self-consolation will backfire. 

The foreign affairs authority on the island of Taiwan announced the decision on Tuesday afternoon, saying it was made due to the growing interactions between the island and France regarding business, culture and education. 

Although some secessionists on the island took the establishment of the office as a "diplomatic breakthrough," while the island leader Tsai Ing-wen boasted about it via a Twitter post on Tuesday, mainland experts believe that Taiwan's self-pleasing move is like spiritual opium obtained through provoking the Chinese mainland, especially before Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi's upcoming visit to France. 

Li Haidong, a professor at the Institute of International Relations at the China Foreign Affairs University, told the Global Times on Tuesday that a representative office like this does not involve diplomatic affairs, and its authority is limited, mostly handling service-oriented affairs. 

Taiwan's foreign affairs authority said the office will provide services to Taiwan people living in or traveling to France, revealing that the number of Taiwan people traveling to France in 2019 increased by 62 percent compared to 2016.

However, Taiwan's actions are dangerously provocative before Wang's visit to France, which reflects the speculative mentality of the secessionists, said Li, noting the Chinese mainland will show no mercy to the Taiwan secessionists' gang.

Taiwan's authorities did not reveal when the office would be inaugurated, nor personnel arrangements.

Any Chinese diplomat will stress that the Taiwan question is China's internal affairs and the one-China principle is the political basis for cooperation with China, said Li, calling for the French side to be more cautious in handling issues about Taiwan.

In Europe, Taiwan has more than one representative office only in Germany, the UK and Switzerland. France will become the fourth European country to have more than one representative office for the island of Taiwan, Zaobao.com reported on Tuesday.