China has blocked imports of citrus fruits, fish and some other food products from Taiwan in response to a visit to the island by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. At the same time, blocking imports of chips was not considered. This is reported by the AP.

Note that China and Taiwan have no official relations since the civil war in 1949. At the same time, they are linked by multi-billion-dollar deals, especially in the supply of Taiwanese-made processor chips needed by Chinese factories that assemble the world's smartphones and other electronics.

Last year, for example, bilateral trade rose 26 percent to $328.3 billion. Taiwan, which makes half the world's processors and owns technology the mainland can't match, said sales to Chinese factories rose 24.4% to $104.3 billion.

"The global economy cannot function without chips made either in Taiwan or China," Carl By said. Weinberg of High Frequency Economics.

Thus, after Pelosi's visit to Taiwan, Beijing limited itself to blocking imports of citrus and frozen mackerel. Also this week, China blocked imports of hundreds of other food products from Taiwan, including cookies and seafood.