This is a new episode of tension around Taiwan. China vowed Wednesday (March 29th) to "retaliate" if Taiwan's president met with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy during a trip to the United States and Central America aimed at strengthening the island's diplomatic ties with its allies.

President Tsai Ing-wen is stopping in New York on Wednesday, before heading to Guatemala and Belize, then stopping in California on her return from that trip, where Kevin McCarthy said he would meet her.

Beijing warned Wednesday that it was "resolutely opposed" to such a meeting, vowing to take "firm measures to retaliate" if it took place.

China considers the autonomous island one of its provinces and intends to take it back by force if necessary. In the name of its "one China" principle, no country is supposed to have official ties with Beijing and Taipei at the same time.

Such a meeting would be seen "as a new provocation that will seriously violate the one-China principle, undermine China's sovereignty and territorial integrity, and undermine peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait," said Zhu Fenglian, spokesman for Beijing's Taiwan affairs office.

"External pressure will not hinder our determination" to be active on the international stage, Tsai said-wen before leaving Taiwan.

"A pretext to overreact"

During the ten-day trip, Tsai Ing-wen is scheduled to meet Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei and Belizean Prime Minister John Briceno.

Belize and Guatemala are among the last 13 countries to officially recognize Taiwan at the expense of Beijing, after Honduras established diplomatic relations with China on Sunday.

Tsai Ing-wen will stop in Los Angeles on her way back to Taiwan. McCarthy said he would meet with her, which Taiwanese authorities have not confirmed.

In 2022, a visit to Taiwan by Kevin McCarthy's predecessor, Nancy Pelosi, triggered the ire of Beijing.

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"There is absolutely no reason for China to use this as a pretext to overreact or engage in increased coercion toward Taiwan," a senior U.S. official said Wednesday.

But for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Washington "is blindly in collusion with Taiwan and supports the secessionist and secessionist forces" of the island. Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning urged the United States to cease all forms of official exchanges with Taiwan and "cease (...) to undermine the political foundations of China-US relations."

Beijing has increased military, economic and diplomatic pressure on the island since Tsai Ing-wen came to power in 2016, and has since recovered nine of its diplomatic allies.

"Beijing's attempts to seize Taiwan's diplomatic partners will lead Taiwan to develop closer ties with the United States," said James Lee, an expert on U.S.-Taiwan relations at the Sinica Academy in Taiwan.

China's 'coercion and intimidation'

Washington, which granted diplomatic recognition to Beijing in 1979, is the island's most powerful ally and main arms supplier.

According to James Lee, "the loss of official relations with third countries will be compensated by the deepening of Taiwan's unofficial relations".

One of Tsai Ing-wen's main opponents in Taiwan, former President Ma Ying-jeou, was in China on Wednesday, where he called on "both sides" to "avoid war and seek peace." This is the first trip of its kind for a former Taiwanese leader.

Latin America, where China has increased investment, has become a strategic terrain in the diplomatic battle between Taipei and Beijing since the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949.

Taipei on Sunday denounced China's "coercion and intimidation" to take its allies, after the official announcement in Beijing of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Honduras, one of the poorest countries in Latin America, and China.

In addition to Guatemala and Belize, Taiwan continues to maintain diplomatic relations with Latin American and Caribbean countries, including Paraguay and Haiti, as well as Pacific island nations and the Vatican.

With AFP

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