Taiwan leader Tsai Ing-wen's transit through the US would be futile as a way to push for the island's independence, but the Chinese mainland has reasons to be concerned about her "little tricks," experts said Sunday.

Tsai reportedly departed on Saturday on a week-long trip to three states Taiwan has "official relations with" - Tuvalu, the Solomon Islands and the Marshall Islands - by transiting via Honolulu in Hawaii and Guam, the Xinhua News Agency reported.

"Her transit is meaningless in practice. No economic or political polices will be discussed," Jin Yi, an expert at the Institute of Taiwan Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times Sunday.

Compared with other former Taiwan leaders such as Chen Shui-bian, Tsai was relatively lower-profile about the US trip, but the levels of US officials she has met over the years are higher, said Jin, adding that the levels of communication are expected to be upgraded further to meet the demands of the US and the island.

However, the US will not break the one-China principle no matter how Taiwan tried to "increase its visibility" in front of the US, and neither Taiwan nor the US will touch the red line, experts noted.

"China and the US currently share more interests and fewer differences. It is a fact that the Taiwan question has less weight than before but China cannot ignore the little tricks of Tsai," Wu Yaming, a senior reporter with People's Daily, told the Global Times on Sunday.

Taiwan has been in a state of anxiety and lacks confidence. However, the US won't break the red line of the one-China principle. If it breaks the principle, the situation then would allow China to reunite the country by force, Jin added.

China has lodged solemn representations with the US over Tsai's transit, foreign ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said at regular news briefing on Friday.