BEIJING: China has accused Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen of aggravating cross-strait tensions, citing her comments following the death of Nobel Peace laureate Liu Xiaobo yesterday as an example of "repeated arbitrary attacks".

Tsai said on Thursday that the self-ruled island hopes China can show self-confidence and promote political reform, after Liu died of cancer.

Ma Xiaoguang, spokesman for China's Taiwan Affairs Office, was quoted by the official Xinhua news agency today as saying that such "reckless" comments were "very dangerous" for cross-strait relations.