China said on Wednesday that Taiwan was seeking to give away the island's semiconductor industry to the United States as a "souvenir" and leverage it to seek political support from Washington.

China claims Taiwan's leadership is 'selling out' Taiwan's industry by making them tools for diplomatic manoeuvring.

China has recently accused Taiwan of attempting to relinquish its semiconductor industry to the U.S. to gain political leverage and support from Washington. This accusation was made by Zhu Fenglian, spokesperson for China's Taiwan Affairs Office,

Taiwan’s coast guard detained a cargo ship and its Chinese crew on Tuesday and said it was investigating whether the vessel had deliberately cut an undersea telecoms cable in the latest possible breach of the island’s communication lines.

Taiwan's coast guard said it was investigating whether the incident was sabotage but said "it cannot be ruled out that it was a gray zone intrusion."

China's government said on Wednesday that Taiwan was "manipulating" possible Chinese involvement in the latest severing of an undersea communications cable, saying the island was casting aspersions before the facts were clear.