China suspends diplomatic contact with Taiwan

Mainland China has suspended diplomatic contact with Taiwan because the latter's leadership has refused to endorse the idea of a single Chinese nation.

Beijing said it had cut off communication because President Tsai Ing-wen of Taiwan failed to endorse the idea that Taiwan and the mainland are part of one China, a concept known as the 1992 Consensus.

The move was the latest effort by Beijing to increase pressure on Ms. Tsai, who took office last month and has unsettled Beijing with her reluctance to disavow calls for Taiwanese independence.

"The cross-strait communication mechanism has been suspended because Taiwan did not recognize the 1992 Consensus, the political basis for the One China principle," An Fengshan, a spokesman for Beijing's Taiwan Affairs Office, said in a statement posted on its website.

Taiwanese officials said Saturday that they would continue to try to communicate with their mainland counterparts.

"We hope Taiwan and the mainland can continue to have benign interaction, which is good for both sides," said Tung Chen-yuan, a government spokesman in Taipei.

According to the New York Times, Taiwan and China have been estranged since the Communist revolution of 1949. Under Ms. Tsai's immediate predecessor, Ma Ying-jeou, the two sides forged closer economic and political ties.