CHINA warned today of possible action to “safeguard its sovereignty” after the United States announced trade talks with the breakaway island of Taiwan.

Beijing insists that Taiwan, which split from the mainland in 1949 when the communists took power, remains part of its territory and must reunite with it.

News of the trade talks came after Beijing fired missiles into the sea in a warning to Taiwan following a recent visit to the island by US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Chinese President Xi Jinping’s government criticised the planned talks, reiterating that Taiwan has no right to conduct its own foreign affairs.

It warned Washington not to encourage the island to try to make its de facto independence permanent, a step that Beijing says would lead to war.

Ministry of Commerce spokeswoman Shu Jueting called on Washington to “fully respect China’s core interests.

“China always opposes any form of official exchanges between any country and the Taiwan region of China,” she said.

“China will take all necessary measures to resolutely safeguard its sovereignty.”

Although Taiwan and China have had no official relations since the 1949 split, they are bound together by billions of dollars’ worth of trade investments.

Kurt Campbell, US President Joe Biden’s co-ordinator for the Indo-Pacific region, said last week that trade talks would “deepen our ties with Taiwan” but stressed that Washington’s policy was not changing.

The US has no diplomatic relations with Taiwan, its ninth-largest trading partner, but maintains extensive informal ties.

More export agreements between Taipei and Washington could help Taiwan blunt China’s efforts to use its status as the island’s biggest trading partner as leverage.

Beijing blocked imports of Taiwanese food in retaliation for Ms Pelosi’s visit.