China has stepped up military activity around democratically governed Taiwan, which it views as its own territory, holding several rounds of war games, most recently with live-fire drills in late December.

“Certain people on the US side are jumping up and down, continuously rehashing the so-called ‘mainland threat’ or ‘military pressure,'” Chen Binhua, a spokesperson for China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, told reporters.

This represented “a complete distortion of the facts and harbours malicious intentions,” he added, saying Taiwan was an internal affair for China, which would brook no outside interference.

Chen urged the United States to act with great caution, and handle Taiwan-related matters carefully and prudently.

The comments came after the US state department urged China last week to both talk to Taiwan and halt its military and other pressure on the island, after Taiwan opposition leader Cheng Li-wun met president Xi Jinping in Beijing.

China refuses to speak to Taiwan president Lai Ching-te, calling him a “separatist”. Lai rejects Beijing’s sovereignty claims, saying only Taiwan’s people can decide their future.

Cheng said she aimed to foster peace with her visit, when China unveiled measures it said would benefit Taiwan, such as easing controls on exports of food, though it did not cease regular military activities around the island during her trip.

Taiwan’s government says it should be leading engagement efforts with China rather than private party-to-party contacts.

Cheng, whose visit was a month before one planned by US president Donald Trump, hopes China and the United States can reconcile and cooperate, she told a Taiwan radio station on Wednesday.

“We can definitely go down the path of peace,” said Cheng, the chairwoman of Taiwan’s largest opposition party the Kuomintang, who plans to visit the United States this year.

“This is the important message I hope to send to Washington.”