‘Don’t play with fire’: China warns US on Taiwan

The warning came after the US issued guidelines enabling easier contact between US and Taiwanese officials.

China has warned the United States “not to play with fire” on Taiwan issues after the Department of State updated its guidelines easing restrictions on meetings between US officials and their counterparts from the island, which Beijing claims as its own. Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian urged the US to “immediately stop any form of US-Taiwan official contacts, cautiously and appropriately handle the matter, and not send wrong signals to Taiwan independence forces so as not to subversively influence and damage Sino-US relations and peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait”. Taiwan is China’s most sensitive territorial and diplomatic issue, and a regular source of friction between Washington and Beijing, which has never ruled out using force to bring the democratically ruled island under its control.