CORRECTS SPELLING OF GUATEMALA - Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen, left, shakes hands with First Vice President of Honduras Ricardo Alvarez after arriving at Soto Cano Air Base outside Comayagua, Honduras,... (Associated Press) 
 
 CORRECTS SPELLING OF GUATEMALA - Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen, left, shakes hands with First Vice President of Honduras Ricardo Alvarez after arriving at Soto Cano Air Base outside Comayagua, Honduras, Sunday, Jan. 8, 2017. The Taiwanese leader will meet with Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez... (Associated Press) 
 
 BEIJING (AP) — China has reiterated its opposition to any contacts between U.S. officials and Taiwan's government following a meeting between Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Gov. Greg Abbott and the self-governing island's President Tsai Ing-wen. 
 
 Cruz and Abbot met with Tsai on Sunday while she was passing through Houston on her way to a visit to Taiwan's Central American allies. 
 
 At a news briefing in Beijing on Monday, Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said China was firmly opposed to any contact between Taiwan's leader and "anyone from the U.S. government." Such contacts threaten to disturb and undermine relations between Washington and Beijing, Lu said. 
 
 China claims Taiwan as its own territory and has been ratcheting up the diplomatic pressure on the independence-leaning Tsai since her election last year. 
 
 Cruz said in a news release that during his meeting with Tsai, they "discussed our mutual opportunity to upgrade the stature of our bilateral relations" in a talk that addressed arms sales, diplomatic exchanges and economic relations. 
 
 An official with Republican President elect-Donald Trump's transition team said neither Trump nor transition officials would meet with Tsai. Her stop in the U.S. was scrutinized by Beijing for any signs that Trump's team would risk its ire by further engaging with the self-ruled island that China considers its territory. 
 
 Trump last month breached diplomatic protocol by speaking by phone with the Taiwanese leader. Trump raised further concerns in Beijing when he questioned a U.S. policy that since 1979 has recognized Beijing as China's government and maintains only unofficial relations with Taiwan. 
 
 U.S. lawmakers often meet with Taiwanese presidents when they transit through the U.S. — most recently in June, when Tsai met in Miami with Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida. 
 
 China's nationalistic tabloid Global Times said Beijing would take a hard line toward any contacts between Taiwan's government and the incoming Trump administration. China "should also impose military pressure on Taiwan and push it to the edge of being reunified by force," the ruling Communist Party-published paper said in an editorial Sunday. 
 
 China has "seized the initiative. The U.S. and Taiwan now should restrain, or be forced to restrain, themselves," the paper said. 
 
 "Tsai needs to face the consequences for every provocative step she takes," it said. ||||| WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senator Ted Cruz and Texas Governor Greg Abbott met with the president of Taiwan on Sunday during a stopover in Houston that was sure to pique Chinese leaders already upset by her conversation with President-elect Donald Trump. 
 
 Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen exits at the Omni Houston Hotel during a "transit stop" enroute to Central America, in Houston, Texas, U.S., January 7, 2017. REUTERS/James Nielsen 
 
 It is not unusual for U.S. lawmakers to meet with Taiwanese leaders when they pass through the country, but tensions are high this winter after Trump, who like Cruz and Abbott is a Republican, spoke to Tsai Ing-wen last month. 
 
 The telephone conversation broke with decades of precedent and cast doubt on his incoming administration’s commitment to Beijing’s “one China” policy. 
 
 Cruz, who represents Texas, said some members of Congress had received a letter from the Chinese consulate asking them not to meet with Tsai during her stopovers. 
 
 “The People’s Republic of China needs to understand that in America we make decisions about meeting with visitors for ourselves,” Cruz said in a statement. “This is not about the PRC. This is about the U.S. relationship with Taiwan, an ally we are legally bound to defend.” 
 
 China is deeply suspicious of Tsai, who it thinks wants to push for the formal independence of Taiwan, a self-governing island that Beijing regards as a renegade province, ineligible for state-to-state relations. 
 
 The United States, which switched diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to China in 1979, has acknowledged the Chinese position that there is only “one China” and that Taiwan is part of it.” 
 
 Tsai scheduled stopovers in San Francisco and Houston on her way to visit allies in Central America, including Honduras, Nicaragua, Guatemala and El Salvador. 
 
 Beijing had urged the United States not to let her into the country. 
 
 Cruz said he and the Taiwanese leader discussed upgrading bilateral relations and furthering economic cooperation between their countries, including increased access to Taiwanese markets that will benefit Texas ranchers, farmers and small businesses. 
 
 Abbott said in a Twitter post that he also met with Tsai on Sunday and that they discussed “expanding trade and economic opportunities.” ||||| This article is over 1 year old 
 
 Ted Cruz meets Taiwan president and fires his own broadside at China 
 
 The Texas senator Ted Cruz and governor, Greg Abbott, have met the Taiwanese president, Tsai Ing-wen, while she was passing through the state on her way to diplomatic stops in Central America. 
 
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 Cruz said China’s consulate had asked, in “a curious letter”, that the Houston congressional delegation “uphold the ‘One China policy’” and not meet the Taiwanese leader. 
 
 In December, Donald Trump spoke with Tsai by phone, breaking decades of US precedent in relations with China. Cruz, a Republican who endorsed Trump after losing to him in the presidential primary, had previously defended Trump’s call. 
 
 “The People’s Republic of China needs to understand that in America we make decisions about meeting with visitors for ourselves,” Cruz said in a statement on Sunday. 
 
 “This is not about the PRC [People’s Republic of China]. This is about the US relationship with Taiwan, an ally we are legally bound to defend. The Chinese do not give us veto power over those with whom they meet. We will continue to meet with anyone, including the Taiwanese, as we see fit.” 
 
 Cruz said he and Tsai discussed “arms sales, diplomatic exchanges and economic relations”, and that he hoped to increase trade between Texas and Taiwanese markets. 
 
 In a separate statement, Abbott said he and Tsai discussed agriculture and gas trade, and exchanged gifts. Tsai received “a clock bearing the Texas state seal”, Abbott said, and the governor was given a vase. 
 
 Abbott said the issues discussed were energy, trade relations and commercial ties between Taiwan and Texas. 
 
 China said on Monday it opposed the Cruz-Tsai meeting, and a state-run newspaper warned of “revenge” against Donald Trump should he abandon the One China policy. 
 
 “We are firmly opposed to the Taiwan leader’s engagement with US officials under the pretext of transit, and her attempt to undermine China-US relations,” the foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang told a regular briefing. 
 
 He urged the US to abide by the One China policy and “prudently handle” Taiwan-related issues. 
 
 The Global Times newspaper said Beijing was “fully prepared” to break ties with the US should Trump abandon the policy. 
 
 “If Trump reneges on the One China policy after taking office, the Chinese people will demand the government to take revenge. There is no room for bargaining,” said the paper, which often takes a nationalistic tone. 
 
 US politicians often meet Taiwanese presidents when they pass through the US, despite tensions between federal officials. Tsai incurred Beijing’s anger over her refusal to endorse its policy that mainland China and Taiwan constitute a single nation. 
 
 
 
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 Beijing lodged a complaint with the US over Trump’s call with Tsai, the first between American and Taiwanese leaders since ties were cut in 1979 at China’s request. Barack Obama’s White House reassured China, but Trump continued to threaten exacerbating tensions with Beijing. 
 
 Not long after his 10-minute conversation with Tsai, the president-elect railed against China on Twitter. 
 
 He wrote: “Did China ask us if it was OK to devalue their currency (making it hard for our companies to compete), heavily tax our products going into their country (the US doesn’t tax them) or to build a massive military complex in the middle of the South China Sea? I don’t think so!” 
 
 He then accused China of stealing an underwater drone that it seized in contested waters, calling it an “unpresidented [sic] act”. 
 
 “We should tell China that we don’t want the drone they stole back,” he wrote. “Let them keep it!”
– Ted Cruz has joined his rival-turned-ally Donald Trump in tweaking China. The Texas senator met with Taiwan's president Sunday when she stopped in Houston on her way to Central America, reports the AP. Cruz made a point to show that he was defying the wishes of China in doing so, saying that he and other Texas lawmakers received a "curious letter" from the Chinese consulate asking that they avoid meeting Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen in deference to the "One China" policy, reports the Guardian. "The People's Republic of China needs to understand that in America we make decisions about meeting with visitors for ourselves," Cruz said in a statement. The meeting probably wouldn't have generated much attention if not for the recent tensions between Trump and Beijing, with Reuters noting it's not unusual for US lawmakers to meet Taiwanese leaders when they're in the US. The discussions centered on "arms sales, diplomatic exchanges, and economic relations," said Cruz. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott also met with Tsai. China made clear again Monday that it's not pleased, with a foreign ministry spokesman saying that "we are firmly opposed to the Taiwan leader's engagement with US officials under the pretext of transit." And the state-run Global Times newspaper warned of "revenge" if Trump, who broke with protocol in accepting a phone call from Tsai after his election win, ditches the One China policy as president.