US-Taiwan trade deal irks Beijing

The United States on Thursday signed a trade agreement with Taiwan aimed at strengthening bilateral commercial relations, a move that provoked the Chinese Foreign Ministry to issue a prior warning against "sending wrong signals to the 'Taiwan independence' secessionist forces."

The conclusion of the trade deal comes as Beijing has been increasingly asserting its claim to the island, which it considers a breakaway part of its territory that must be united with the mainland by force, if necessary.

What is the trade agreement about?

The US-Taiwan Initiative on 21st Century Trade aims to streamline customs checks, improve regulatory procedures and establishing anticorruption measures between the US and Taiwan. 

The agreement is intended to "strengthen and deepen the economic and trade relationship," the Office of the US Trade Representative said in a statement.

Taiwan's government said the deal was "the most comprehensive" of its kind signed with Washington in more than four decades.

Although the US and Taiwan have no formal diplomatic ties, they maintain unofficial relations and trade to the tune of several billion dollars annually. Although Washington switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979, the US has remained a key ally and arms supplier to Taiwan.

What has China said?

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said on Friday that the deal violated the "one-China" principle and that it was the latest example of the US trying to undermine that policy.

On Thursday, Beijing warned Washington against signing the deal, saying it opposed any agreements "with connotations of sovereignty or of an official nature with China's Taiwan region."

Beijing has escalated its threats against Taiwan in recent years, including by increasing military drills in the seas around the island. It has also reacted with growing anger to visits by US and European politicians, seeing these as a recognition of the island's sovereignty.

Taiwan and China split in 1949 after a civil war. Although the island has never belonged to the People's Republic of China, China's ruling Communist Party insists that it has to unite with the mainland.