U.S. Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb visited China’s Taiwan island on Sunday, following the visits by Nancy Pelosi on August 2 and a Congressional delegation on August 14.

OPINION: Such trips by U.S. politicians are not helping Taiwan, but costing it.

Pelosi’s provocative visit resulted in days of China’s military actions closely surrounding the Taiwan island, with no intervention from the U.S. military at all, which is widely seen as Washington losing the upper hand to Beijing on the Taiwan issues.

Under this impression, some American politicians paid more visits to Taiwan ahead of their midterm elections, trying to show voters that they are tough on China and that the Taiwan issues are still “controllable” in their hands.

However, such trips will only result in more actions from Beijing, pushing China one step closer to reunification.

For example, since Pelosi’s trip, Beijing’s jet fighters have regularly patrolled Taiwan, which has wiped out the so-called “middle line of Taiwan Strait”. There are also unprecedented economic sanctions on Taiwan.

The above actions from Beijing could just be appetizers, as China’s senior diplomat Wang Yi warned that after Pelosi’s trip, China will “act on each and every provocation from the U.S.” over Taiwan.

Interestingly, most of Beijing’s tough responses now target the Taiwan authorities, not Washington. Are the U.S. politicians really trying to “help” their partner Taiwan by visiting it, or are they just helping with their own elections at the cost of Taiwan?

Some U.S. politicians “play” this game to get more votes but the U.S. can hardly win playing the Taiwan card because the U.S. neither has moral support nor military advantage.

No moral support: The U.S. and a few of its allies alone cannot turn the world against China over the one-China principle as over 180 countries have diplomatic relations with Beijing, upholding the one-China principle. Over 170 countries and international organizations voiced support for China’s sovereignty after Pelosi’s trip. China is the biggest trade partner of over 120 countries, few of whom are willing to cut diplomatic ties with Beijing over China’s internal affairs on an island.

No military advantage: The U.S. military seem unwilling to defend Taiwan, with their nearby aircraft carriers staying far away when China conducted military drills which could blockade Taiwan.

With this being said, the U.S. politicians’ visits to Taiwan are only making themselves unjustified and making Taiwan’s Tsai Ing-wen authorities one step closer to collapse.