The United States warned Beijing on Wednesday against any "exaggerated reaction" to stops by Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen in New York on her way to Central America and in Los Angeles on her way back.

"There is absolutely no reason for China to use this as an excuse to overreact or to put more pressure on Taiwan," a senior US official told reporters, speaking on condition of anonymity.

From Wednesday, the President of Taiwan will go to Guatemala and Belize, during which she will stop in the US.

Beijing regards Taiwan as Chinese territory, but has not been able to unite it with the rest of its territory.

In the name of the "one China" principle, Beijing believes that no country should establish official relations with Beijing and Taipei at the same time, and it has expressed its opposition to any official exchanges between the island and the United States.

And in August 2022, a visit to Taiwan that she made on the personal initiative of Nancy Pelosi, who was then Speaker of the US House of Representatives, angered Beijing, which in response to this move organized large-scale military maneuvers around Taiwan.

For its part, Washington considers that the Taiwanese president's stay on US soil does not in any way violate the US policy on "one China" and that it is just a "transit" even if she meets with personalities.

"This is a private and unofficial visit," the US official stressed, respecting "a longstanding practice."

The official declined to confirm the possibility of a meeting in California between Tsai Ing-wen and House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy, who hails from this western state.

Washington, which announced its diplomatic recognition of Beijing in 1979, is Taiwan's strongest ally and a major arms supplier.