BEIJING (AP) — Beijing says contact between the main China-Taiwan liaison bodies has been cut because of President Tsai Ing-wen's failure to endorse the concept of a single Chinese nation.

The statement posted on the website of the Cabinet's Taiwan Affairs Office came on Saturday after Taiwan protested Cambodia's deportation of 25 Taiwanese internet scam suspects to China.

Office spokesman An Fengshan says the mechanism for communications between bodies responsible for ties has been suspended. That appeared to signify a major downgrading in relations in retaliation for Tsai's pro-Taiwanese independence stance and a fulfillment of Beijing's threats to take countermeasures in response to her refusal to follow its demands.

Taiwan functions as an independent country and does not acknowledge Beijing's claim of authority over it.