Taiwan leader Tsai Ing-wen's "transit" through the U.S. and meeting with U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy this week has escalated tensions in the Taiwan Straits.

China firmly opposes and strongly condemns the U.S. arrangement for Tsai's "transit" trip through the U.S. and the meeting between her and McCarthy, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Thursday.

"Such acts have gravely violated the one-China principle and the provisions of the three China-U.S. joint communiques, seriously infringed upon China's sovereignty and territorial integrity, and sent seriously wrong signals to the separatist forces for 'Taiwan independence,'" the spokesperson said.

This "transit" is Tsai's seventh as the leader of the region and her first since 2019.

If the Taiwan authorities want to go to the U.S., they can only do so under the garb of a transit – to have a stopover in the U.S. on the way to or back from the countries with whom they claim to have "diplomatic ties."

While Tsai's administration hyped up a "visit to the United States" before her departure, the White House made it clear that the "transits" are "not visits" and "they are private and unofficial."

Seen from the timeline of Tsai's "transits" through the U.S. and the timeline of countries severing diplomatic relations with the island and establishing or resuming diplomatic ties with the People's Republic of China, the number of countries having diplomatic relations with the Taiwan region is decreasing despite Tsai's "transits" through the U.S.

With the establishment of diplomatic relations between Honduras and China last month, the Taiwan authorities only have two remaining partners in Central America – Guatemala and Belize.

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Graphics: Tsai's 'transit' violates one-China principle, three China-U.S. joint communiques

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