REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/ File photo Acquire Licensing RightsBEIJING, Nov 9 (Reuters) - The Chinese government on Thursday told Britain to stop its efforts to "enhance" ties with Taiwan after a high level meeting in London and the signing of a new trade agreement between the island and Britain. "We urge the UK to abide by the one-China principle and stop using trade cooperation as an excuse to engage in official exchanges or enhance substantive relations with Taiwan," it added. Britain and Taiwan both maintain de facto embassies in each other's capitals, but London does not officially recognise the democratically elected government in Taipei. Britain approved a sharp increase in exports of submarine parts and technology last year to Taiwan as it upgrades its naval forces, Reuters reported in March. Because of its diplomatic isolation and pressure from China, chip powerhouse Taiwan has few formal foreign trade agreements, though it is a member of the World Trade Organization and has free trade agreements with Singapore and New Zealand.

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Persons: Dado Ruvic, Nigel Huddleston, Chen Chern, Ben Blanchard, Sam Holmes Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, Wednesday, Trade Partnership, British Trade, World Health Organization, Reuters, World Trade Organization, Beijing, Thomson Locations: Rights BEIJING, Britain, Taiwan, London, China's, Beijing, China, Taipei, Singapore, New Zealand