by Xinhua Writer Chen Shilei

BEIJING, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- Allowing Taiwan leader Tsai Ing-wen's stopovers in the United States and even meetings with U.S. officials goes against the globally recognized one-China policy, a cornerstone for the long-term healthy development of the China-U.S. ties.

Tsai on Sunday met with U.S. Senator Ted Cruz and Texas Governor Greg Abbott during a stopover in Houston on her way to Central America.

Although both Taiwan and the United States described Tsai's stay as nothing unusual, Tsai's meetings with Cruz and Abbott revealed the pro-independence Taiwan leader's ambition to seek U.S. support and some U.S. politicians' ambiguous attitude toward the one-China policy that the United States recognizes: there is only one China in the world and Taiwan is a part of China.

The one-China principle, which has been formed during the Chinese people's fight to safeguard China's sovereignty and territorial integrity, has its unshakable factual and legal basis.

The United States severed ties with Taiwan and established diplomatic ties with the People's Republic of China in the 1970s, admitting Beijing is the only legitimate government representing China -- a principle China conducts diplomacy with other countries.

It is on such a basis that China and the United States, despite differing on some issues, can develop their relations in a mutually beneficial way in the past decades.

Playing tricks of developing ties with Beijing while showing affection for Taipei, which is contrary to the U.S. original intention of setting up diplomatic ties with China, could backfire.

Any breach of the one-China principle runs counter to the historical trend. It is poisonous to the future development of the U.S.-China ties, the most important bilateral relations in the world.

After all, a stable relationship between the top two economies across the Pacific Ocean is not only good for the two countries but also conducive to world peace and prosperity.