The army of the Eastern Theater Command of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) conducts long-range live-fire drills in the Taiwan Strait, Aug 4, 2022. The Eastern Theater Command on Aug 4 conducted joint combat exercises and training around the Taiwan Island on an unprecedented scale. (Photo by Hong Wei/Xinhua)

Just 12 days after US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited the island of Taiwan, a delegation of US lawmakers made a sudden visit to the island on Sunday, further proving that the US is the one that makes repeated provocations and keeps tensions from easing, said Chinese experts.

They stressed that China will definitely impose sanctions on the visiting lawmakers as a countermeasure, as the country has always been firmly opposed to any collusion between the US and Taiwan secessionists.  

No forces should ever underestimate China's determination to safeguard its national sovereignty and territorial integrity, analysts said, warning anyone against stirring up trouble.

The People's Liberation Army's military drills encircling the island of Taiwan have sent a loud and clear-cut warning signal, but some US politicians are still "playing with fire" to serve their own political interests, so the international community can see clearly who is the troublemaker that always ignores warnings and keeps worsening regional peace with endless provocations, and sooner or later, they will be "burned" and punished, they noted. 

A US congressional delegation arrived in the island of Taiwan on Sunday and will meet with Taiwan regional officials from Sunday to Monday, the Taiwan authorities announced on Sunday. 

The official account of the Voice of Straits, a mainland state media outlet focusing on cross-Taiwan Straits news, said on Sunday that "according to sources from the Chinese military, the PLA Eastern Theater Command is likely to conduct strong and powerful military operations in the waters and airspace around the island of Taiwan as countermeasures to the latest visit to the island by US lawmakers." 

The five-member delegation is led by Democratic Senator Edward J. Markey of Massachusetts as part of a visit to Asia. 

Markey is a seasoned China hawk, who often chides China on human rights issues. In March 2020, he co-introduced a bipartisan resolution with Senator Rick Scott calling on the International Olympic Committee to move the 2022 Winter Olympics out of China.

After Pelosi left Taiwan, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) conducted week-long drills in the Taiwan Straits, and said last week it will later conduct regular combat readiness security patrols. 

The Taiwan authorities said that it had detected 22 PLA aircraft and six naval ships in and around the Taiwan Straits on Sunday, once again crossed the so-called median line.

The latest visit is closely influenced by Pelosi's visit nearly two weeks ago. It shows that the US has ignored China's stern warnings and will have to face severe punishment due to its egregious provocations, Zhang Tengjun, deputy director of the Department for Asia-Pacific Studies at the China Institute of International Studies, told the Global Times on Sunday.

However, the delegation's visit, which was only made public at the last minute when they arrived in a sneaky and stealthy manner, exposed their diffidence in triggering anger from the Chinese mainland, said Zhang.

The latest US move can be seen as defiance of China's stern response, including military drills, an expert specializing in China-US relations told the Global Times on condition of anonymity on Sunday. "It can be seen that the US has become stuck in the mind-set of making trouble and sabotaging China-US ties so as to make itself a so-called lead player in the Western Pacific region."

The delegation's visit comes after Pelosi exposed the key stance of the US on the Taiwan question, which is to egg on Taiwan separatists and falsify the essence of the one-China principle, said the above-quoted expert. 

"This visit serves another example of the US trying to get its way in global security affairs, and insists on creating crises as well as turbulence globally," said the expert. 

After Pelosi's visit, the US Congress and other administrative institutions are vying for the dominant right on Taiwan-related issues. Meanwhile, the Congress is using the Taiwan question to make political gains, which not only complicates its own domestic politics, but also casts a great shadow on China-US relations, said the anonymous expert. 

China will surely retaliate against the visiting US lawmakers, such as imposing sanctions similar to those against Pelosi. The country will make them know that those who play with fire will perish by it and the US must pay the price for its own mistake, said Zhang.

On the Taiwan question, Henry Kissinger, the 99-year-old former US secretary of state, expressed, in an interview with The Wall Street Journal, his worries that the US and China are maneuvering toward a crisis, and counseled steadiness on Washington's part, the US media reported on Friday. "The policy that was carried out by both parties has produced and allowed the progress of Taiwan into an autonomous democratic entity and has preserved peace between China and the US for 50 years," he said, noting that "one should be very careful, therefore, in measures that seem to change the basic structure."

China, not even a bit can be left behind Graphic: Deng Zijun/GT

On August 5, China announced eight countermeasures in response to Pelosi's highly provocative visit to the island of Taiwan, including canceling China-US theater commanders' talks, defense policy coordination talks, the military maritime security consultative mechanism and suspending cooperation on illegal immigration repatriation, drug control and climate change.

Chinese Foreign Ministry also announced on August 5 to sanction Pelosi and her immediate family members because she disregarded China's serious concern and firm opposition and insisted on visiting China's Taiwan region.  

On August 12, the ministry further announced plans to sanction Lithuanian deputy minister of transport and communications Agnė Vaiciukevičiūtė, who visited the Taiwan region, which trampled on the one-China principle, seriously interfered in China's internal affairs, and undermined China's sovereignty and territorial integrity. Vaiciukevičiūtė is the first foreign official sanctioned over a provocative Taiwan visit since Pelosi was sanctioned last week.

Many international media outlets predicted the Pelosi visit would drag China-US relations to a new low. The Economist said it marks the "beginning of a perilous new era of hostility between China and America."

Zhang said that the congressional delegation's visit won't bring bilateral ties down much, as it has already reached a new low level, and the level of the delegation pales in comparison with Pelosi. 

The expert believes every countermeasure that China has taken since Pelosi visited the Taiwan region was clearly received by the US, both in its military and diplomatic approach. The suspension of mutual dialogue between the two countries also hit the US at its sore point. 

But sadly, under the chaotic policies of the Biden administration, more and more selfish politicians are daring to kidnap the national interests of the US, and ultimately let the whole country pay for them, analysts said.