Taiwan said Thursday that China's ban on imports of its fruit, vegetables, seafood and other goods violates trade rules, in the latest escalation of tensions between the self-governing island republic and its massive neighbor,

Taiwanese officials have called it an act of "economic coercion," which China has been accused of in the past.

Taiwan denounced China on Thursday for suspending tariff exemptions on agricultural imports from the island, saying it was "economic coercion" and not conducive to improving relations. China, which claims democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory,