Illustration: Liu Rui/GT

Regardless of China's strong opposition and warnings, the US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Wednesday local time met with Taiwan regional leader Tsai Ing-wen in Los Angeles, who is visiting the US under the guise of "transit." This is another serious provocation by the US side that seriously violates the one-China principle, damages China's sovereignty and territorial integrity, and undermines peace and stability of the Taiwan Straits, following the previous provocative visit by former House speaker Nancy Pelosi to the Taiwan island last August. China's countermeasures will be resolute and powerful, and the provocateurs will not have an easy time. The international community should take a good look at who is undermining the peace and stability of the Taiwan Straits, and who is the one creating crises and instability.

To deceive the public, the US has claimed that Tsai's "transit" is private and there are no plans for government officials to meet with her. What is the matter with McCarthy's meeting with Tsai? McCarthy not only has an official identity, but he is also the third-ranking official in the US government. His meeting with Tsai completely exposes the genuine purpose and nature of Tsai's trip, a slap in Washington's own face and a serious violation of red lines. The US has violated its political commitment to merely maintain unofficial relations with the Taiwan island. 

If this is the "diplomatic breakthrough" that Tsai and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) authorities have made every endeavor to achieve, they will surely taste the bitter fruits of this "breakthrough" in the next step.

Looking back now, China's series of strong countermeasures against Pelosi's provocative visit to the Taiwan island in August last year have achieved significant results. The Chinese People's Liberation Army's (PLA) live-fire exercises around the island and the normalization of joint security patrols and combat drills by various branches of the Eastern Theater Command in the waters and airspace around the Taiwan island all demonstrate that we firmly grasp the initiative and dominant position in cross-Straits relations. At that time, the US media vigorously hyped China as "overreacting." Haven't they thought over that China had already made its position clear? How could they expect China to remain indifferent when its core interests were provoked?

Do not say you have not been warned. How many times do Americans need to be reminded of this sentence? Some public opinions in the US and Taiwan island compare this meeting to Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan, either saying that "the political complexity is not so high" or claiming that "the consequences are not so serious." These claims are nothing but only deceive themselves and others. The mainland's countermeasures will not follow their petty mind, let alone follow their playbook.

McCarthy and Tsai, one is a "politician with stains" who has just struggled to obtain the position of House Speaker, the other is a disloyal descendant of the Chinese nation who blindly pursues "Taiwan independence by relying on the US" without considering the livelihood of the people on the island. Both of them have the motivation to stage a political show, therefore the two hit it off. McCarthy has just taken office and wants to show his presence through this cheapest and most harmful way; Tsai wants to add points to her political career by using this most shameless and hateful way of "selling out Taiwan to seek glory." Their ugly postures will all be recorded in history.

The US side has recently released frequent signals that it hopes to maintain high-level communications with China. McCarthy's meeting with Tsai has only added fuel to the strategic mistrust between China and the US. This is not a question of whether it "angers" China, but it concerns national sovereignty and territorial integrity, as well as the dignity of the Chinese nation. This is a matter of right and wrong that the US side must know its severity.  

From Tsai's departure to her stopover in the US, there have been many spontaneous protests by the people on the island and overseas Chinese. Any Chinese with conscience and self-esteem will be indignant at Tsai's behavior of kowtowing to the US, selling out the Taiwan island and undermining cross-Straits relations, and will feel ashamed of foreign politicians who condone and support Taiwan secessionists. In the past seven years since taking office, the DPP authorities have lost nine so-called "diplomatic allies," and every time before or after Tsai "transits" through the US, there is "ally" disappearing from the list. This is the trend of history. Both Pelosi and McCarthy will be milestones marking "Taiwan independence" forces moving toward the dead end step by step.