The United States warned Beijing on Wednesday against any "
overreaction
" to the visit to the United States of the President of Taiwan, Tsai Ing-wen, who must stop in New York during a trip to the Central America, and back to Los Angeles.
“
There is absolutely no reason for China to use this as an excuse to overreact or exert even more pressure on Taiwan
,” a senior US official told reporters on condition of anonymity.
The Taiwanese president is going to Guatemala and Belize from Wednesday, stopping on American soil.
Reprisals and military maneuvers
China considers Taiwan to be one of its provinces that it has not yet managed to reunify with the rest of its territory.
In the name of its “
One China
” principle, no country is supposed to maintain official ties with Beijing and Taipei at the same time.
And Beijing has already expressed its opposition to official exchanges between Taiwan and the United States.
In August 2022, the visit to the self-administered island of Nancy Pelosi, at the time president of the American House of Representatives, enraged Beijing, which had launched in retaliation large-scale military maneuvers around Taiwan.
“Private and unofficial tour”
Washington considers that these American stops by the Taiwanese president in no way violate the United States' one-China policy and that they are only "
transits
", even if this official meets people there.
"
This is a private and unofficial visit
", which respects a "
long-standing practice
", insisted the American official.
The latter refused to confirm a possible meeting in California between Tsai Ing-wen and the Republican leader of the House, Kevin McCarthy, from this western American state.
Washington, which nevertheless granted its diplomatic recognition to Beijing in 1979, is Taiwan's most powerful ally as well as its main arms supplier.
