Beijing highly sensitive about Taiwan: China tells US

Beijing, Jan 23 (IANS) China on Monday said it was "highly" sensitive about Taiwan and the US must understand that.

Beijing also said "One China Policy" was the basis of Sino-US ties, urging the new American administration under the President Donald Trump to honour the pact.

"We urge the new administration to fully understand the high sensitivity of the Taiwan issue and to continue pursuing the one China policy," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said here.

"The One-China principle is the political foundation of China-US relations. Any US administration has the responsibility to honour the bipartisan commitment of successive US governments to continue to uphold the one-China principle," she added.

After his election as US President, Trump took phone call by Taiwan President Tsai Ing- Wen, angering China. This was the first time any US President spoke to Tawain's head of state since 1979.

Trump, in media interviews, said Beijing's "One China Policy" was negotiable. This riled up Beijing further.

This has led to strain between the the two-largest economies of the world with China' state-controlled media threatening war if Washington meddled with Taiwan.

China considers Taiwan as a breakaway island, which it has threatened to take back forcibly if necessary.