Trump signs Taiwan Travel Act, drawing China’s ire

US President Donald Trump’s new legislation that encourages US officials to travel to Taiwan to meet their counterparts and vice versa, has angered China. Trump signed the Taiwan Travel Act late Friday.

Taiwan’s foreign ministry said Saturday that the self-ruled island’s government would “continue to uphold the principles of mutual trust and mutual benefit to maintain close contact and communication with US.”

US and Taiwan officials travel back and forth between the two countries. The visits are kept low profile to avoid offending China as it considers Taiwan a wayward province and seeks reunification with China.

After Trump signed the legislation, the Chinese embassy said in a statement that clauses in the travel act “severely violate the one-China principle, the political foundation of the China-US relationship.” China alleges that the Taiwan Travel Act violated US commitments not to restore direct official contacts with Taiwan that were severed when Washington switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979.