By working hand in glove with United States House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to stage the stunt of her visit to Taipei with the ultimate aim of splitting the island from the motherland, Taiwan leader Tsai Ing-wen has betrayed the Chinese nation and will be condemned by both the Chinese people and history.

Beijing's response to the political brinkmanship should leave no one in doubt that it has both the resolve and the capability to defend China's sovereignty and territorial integrity. Now Tsai and her secession-seeking Democratic Progressive Party will have to bear the brunt of Beijing's ire, which they have invited on themselves.

No sooner had Pelosi landed in Taipei than Beijing announced a series of measures in response to the most blatant hollowing out yet of the one-China principle by Washington. To reinforce that it has both the resolve and the capability to prevent the island being cleaved from the motherland, the People's Liberation Army's Eastern Theater Command commenced a series of operations in the airspace and waters surrounding Taiwan on Tuesday night.

The choice of the locations of the drills and the nature of the exercises, such as a joint blockade, sea target assaults, strikes on ground targets and airspace control operations, indicate that the PLA is fully capable of combating any secessionist activity and striking back at any foreign military intervention.

Among other measures are punitive actions against two Taiwan organizations, related enterprises and individuals that have close ties with diehard secessionists, as announced by the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council on Wednesday.

And the General Administration of Customs suspended the entry into the Chinese mainland of citrus fruits and some frozen fish from the island, a move that will deal a heavy blow to the farming and fishing bases in the southern part of the island which are the DPP's major voting bloc.

Tsai and the DPP are more than happy to be Washington's puppets, but the carnival of Pelosi's visit, which they view as consummating US support for their cause is doomed to be short-lived, as they have poisoned the atmosphere of cross-Straits relations. Beijing is expected to announce further measures in due course.

Neither Pelosi's self-serving Taiwan visit nor Tsai's constant collusion with external forces can change the internationally recognized truth that there is but one China and Taiwan is part of China. Nor will any such collusion ever succeed in splitting even an inch of Chinese territory from the motherland.