Last week, the United States played the Taiwan card against China, allowing Taiwanese leader Tsai Ing-wen to use the United States as a platform to promote “Taiwan independence” and undermine China-US relations. In New York, she seized every opportunity she could to make a show of it, serving as a pawn for foreign powers to interfere in China’s internal affairs.

Her arrival was met with protest on the streets of New York and even prompted Cui Tiankai, the Chinese Ambassador to the United States, to send out a tweet: “Taiwan is part of China. No attempts to split China will ever succeed. Those who play with fire will only get themselves burned. Period.”

She made the trip amid trade frictions between China and the United States and just days after the US Defense Department approved a $2.2 billion arms sale to the island, which the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China said violates international law and norms in international relations, the One China Principle, and the three joint communiques between China and the United States, and undermines national sovereignty and security.

Right now, Taiwan is gearing up for a leader election in January. During the island’s election season, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) will go to great lengths to provoke and anger the mainland and sow fear and hatred among voters. This time, Tsai Ing-wen passed through the United States to “play president” and incite hatred against the mainland.

While in New York, Tsai Ing-wen spoke about “democracy, freedom, and human rights,” emphasizing that “Taiwan stands on the frontlines of democracy” to strike the right note with Americans. However, the facts are what they are.

As China has pointed out on many occasions, the DPP uses “freedom, democracy, and human rights” as a fig leaf to mask its intention to split China. Thus, the DPP will ostentatiously parade “Taiwan independence” advocates but will make a monkey out of those who advocate national reunification.

In the closed-door talks at Columbia University, Tsai Ing-wen tried to convince her audience that Taiwan is a sovereign state and took the opportunity to attack the practice of “one country, two systems” in Hong Kong, exposing her intention to split China.

“One country, two systems” is the best solution for Hong Kong. It has allowed the city to remain prosperous and stable and has proven to be successful in practice. “One country, two systems” is also the best way to achieve national reunification, because it considers the reality of the situation and is conducive to long-term stability.

In her speech, Tsai Ing-wen tried to throw a monkey wrench into the reunification process by attacking the practice of “one country, two systems” in Hong Kong. But like an ant trying to topple a giant tree, the effort is doomed to fail. China has made it very clear that reunification is inevitable, and it would be a grave mistake to underestimate the will of the Chinese government and people to defend their national sovereignty and territorial integrity.

It is common knowledge that China opposes any form of official exchanges between the United States and Taiwan. The United States risks damaging the most important bilateral relationship in the world and peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait by violating the One China Principle and the three joint communiques and providing a platform for “Taiwan Independence” advocates.

For some three decades now, the US side has broken its promises by violating the provisions of the three joint communiques and has shown a tendency recently to intensify such practices, revealing Washington’s desire to contain China by playing the Taiwan card against China.

It is shameful that the United States has made Taiwan a pawn in its geopolitical game and the island’s leaders are making a major miscalculation if they think “Taiwan Independence” is the best way forward.