A view of the Taiwan Straits is seen from Xiamen port in East China's Fujian Province. Photo: IC

Following recent provocative claims by Raymond Greene, director of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), the AIT on Tuesday made another provocative and rare move by posting on social media a photo showing vessels from the US Coast Guard and Taiwan region's coast guard together.

Zheng Jian, a professor at the Graduate Institute for Taiwan Studies at Xiamen University, East China's Fujian Province, told the Global Times on Wednesday that the AIT's latest move is highly provocative, emboldens "Taiwan independence" separatist forces and increases the risk of escalating tensions and strategic miscalculation across the Taiwan Straits.

The move also runs counter to Washington's previous commitments after its leadership's visit to Beijing, reflecting a stark contradiction between its words and actions. The expert cautioned that the AIT should not become a "troublemaker" in China-US relations.

A post from the AIT's Facebook account on Tuesday shows an image of a US Coast Guard cutter sailing alongside a Taiwan-region-painted coast guard vessel in open waters. The US cutter with hull number 757 is in the foreground, while the Taiwan region's vessel follows on a parallel course in the background.

The traditional Chinese- and English-language bilingual post claimed that the US Coast Guard and the Taiwan region's coast guard are coordinating on shared maritime objectives, including search and rescue, disaster relief and countering illegal fishing.

The AIT's latest post and its interference in the Taiwan question seriously violate the one-China principle and send a dangerous, misleading signal to "Taiwan independence" separatist forces at a time when the Lai Ching-te authorities' dissatisfaction rate is on the rise, Zheng pointed out. 
 
Some pro-DPP media outlets on the island gave extensive coverage to what they described as US "support," with some even mischaracterizing the AIT's post as evidence of Washington's opposition to Beijing and endorsement of closer collaboration between the US and the Taiwan region. 

Zheng said the hype from these pro-DPP media outlets was clearly aimed at drawing the US into a deeper and more direct confrontation with China, a course that is not in Washington's strategic interests, particularly at a time when it is already struggling to extricate itself from the predicament in the Middle East.

Zheng noted that the AIT's recent moves once again exposed the US' long-standing strategy of using the Taiwan question to contain China. He said Washington should not expect Beijing to stand by in the face of its contradictory words and actions, warning that China's countermeasures will only become stronger if such provocations continue.

Over the past month, China has carried out a range of activities in related waters, including CCG patrols and maritime traffic law-enforcement operations conducted by maritime administrations from different regions in waters southeast of Taiwan Island, according to a previous Global Times report.