Don’t play with fire on Taiwan

China yesterday told the United States to stop playing with fire over Taiwan and lodged a complaint after Washington issued guidelines that will enable US officials to meet more freely with officials from the island that China claims as its own. 

The US State Department's Friday decision to deepen relations with self-ruled Taiwan came amid stepped-up Chinese military activity around the island, including almost daily air force incursions into Taiwan's air defence zone.

China urges the United States "not to play with fire on the Taiwan issue, 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", Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian  said.