China Threatens Action Against U.S. After Trump Signs Bill Encouraging Diplomatic Visits to Taiwan

China will take military and diplomatic countermeasures against the U.S. if President Donald Trump passes a law that encourages relations between America and Taiwan, Beijing state media said on Sunday.

Trump signed the Taiwan Travel Act last Friday, which allows for and encourages high-level official visits between the two countries. The legislation displeased China, which has long considered the self-ruled island to be a wayward province.

"China will and should take timely countermeasures against the U.S. and all 'Taiwan independence' secessionist forces through diplomatic and military means," should high-level contact occur, China’s official Communist Party newspaper Global Times stated.

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One submarine emerges from water alongside two frigates during a military exercise held by Taiwan off the coast of the eastern county of Hualien February 6. On Sunday, Chinese state media said that Beijing will take military and diplomatic countermeasures against the U.S. for passing the Taiwan Travel Act.

Liu Weidong, a research fellow at the Institute of American Studies of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said the bill will cause the Chinese army to “resume its military probes circling [Taiwan] and send more military vessel and airplanes to patrol the Straits.”

On Saturday, the Chinese embassy in Washington firmly opposed the bill and said its signing “severely violates” the “political foundation of the China-U.S. relationship.” The embassy also criticized the U.S. for ignoring Beijing’s “one-China” approach towards Taiwan.

Last December, China ramped up military drillsaround Taiwan, and despite Beijing claiming they were routine, Taipei said they posed an “enormous threat to its national security." China has explicitly said it will not tolerate any attempt by the island to declare independence.

In 2017, Beijing carried out 16 drills around Taiwan, its defense military said in a white paper. It added that its military threat was growing by each passing day.

The Washington Free Beacon reported last October that newly discovered internal military documents have revealed that China intends to invade Taiwan by force before 2020.

Tsai Ing-wen, Taiwan’s first female president who leads the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party, said she wants to preserve peace but if pushed, will defend Taiwan’s security and lifestyle.