China warns meeting of Tsai, McCarthy will 'further damage' Sino-US ties

China has warned that an upcoming meeting between Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen and US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy will "further damage" relations between Beijing and Washington.

The Wednesday meeting in California will "greatly hurt the national feelings of 1.4 billion Chinese people" and undermine "the political foundation of China-US relations," a Los Angeles consulate spokesperson said in a statement, adding it would "further damage China-US relations."

McCarthy, a Republican, earlier confirmed he would meet Tsai in California, defying warnings from China that he was "playing with fire."

Tsai plans to stop over in the United States on her return from Central America, where she has met the leaders of Guatemala and is visiting Belize before meeting McCarthy.

On Monday, McCarthy's office said the "bipartisan" meeting would take place at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, just outside Los Angeles.

He had originally planned to follow the example of his predecessor as speaker, Democrat Nancy Pelosi, who visited Taiwan in August.

That visit prompted China to conduct its largest-ever military exercises around the island — a self-governing democracy Beijing claims as part of its territory.

McCarthy's decision to meet Tsai in the United States was viewed as a compromise that would underscore support for Taiwan but avoid inflaming tensions with China.

However, Xu Xueyuan, the charge d'affaires of China's embassy to the United States, told reporters last week that Washington risked "serious confrontation" no matter whether US leaders visited Taiwan or the reverse.

"The US keeps saying that transit is not a visit and that there are precedents, but we should not use past mistakes as excuses for repeating them today," she said.

China claims the self-ruled island as part of its territory to be retaken one day and, under its "One-China" principle, no country may maintain official ties with both Beijing and Taipei.

On Monday, China's consulate in Los Angeles said: "McCarthy is ignoring the broad support of the international community for the One-China principle, ignoring the lessons that should have been drawn from previous mistakes ."

"There is no doubt that he will make the same mistake again, further damage China-US relations, but it will only strengthen the strong will and determination of the Chinese people" to achieve "reunification" with Taiwan, they added.

As speaker of the House of Representatives, McCarthy is the most senior Republican lawmaker and second in line to the US presidency.

The United States remains Taiwan's most important ally — and its biggest arms supplier — despite switching its diplomatic recognit ion to Beijing in 1979.

READ MORE: Taiwan's Tsai Ing-wen visits Central America in bid to solidify alliances