BEIJING, Feb 26 (Reuters) - China said on Wednesday that

Taiwan was seeking to give away the island's semiconductor

industry to the United States as a "souvenir" and leverage it to

seek political support from Washington.

U.S. media have said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co ( TSM )

, the world's largest contract chipmaker and a major

supplier to companies such as Apple ( AAPL ) and Nvidia ( NVDA )

, has been in talks for a stake in Intel ( INTC ).

Neither TSMC nor Intel ( INTC ) has confirmed the reports and

Taiwan's government says it has not received information about

any overseas investment application from TSMC.

U.S. President Donald Trump has criticised Taiwan for taking

away American semiconductor business, saying he wants the

industry to manufacture more in the United States.

Speaking at a regular news conference in Beijing, Zhu

Fenglian, spokesperson for China's Taiwan Affairs Office, said,

without offering evidence, that people in Taiwan were concerned

TSMC could become "United States Semiconductor Manufacturing

Co".

"In order to seek selfish gain, the Democratic Progressive

Party authorities have freely made demands from external forces,

using Taiwan's semiconductor industry and powerful companies to

get a foot in the door to relying on foreign countries to seek

independence, and even give them away as souvenirs," Zhu said,

referring to Taiwan's ruling party.

While China claims democratically governed Taiwan as its own

territory, despite the strong objections of the government in

Taipei, Beijing has no say in foreign investment approval

decisions by Taipei.

Zhu said Taiwan was trying to "sell out" Taiwanese

companies.

"This sort of shameless selling out of Taiwan is in

actuality pandering to the United States," she said.

Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council said in a statement that

TSMC was an "important Taiwanese company".

"In response to the challenges posed by Trump's new policies

towards our semiconductor industry and TSMC, our government will

work closely with industry to maintain Taiwan's leading position

in the field of advanced technology," it said, without

elaborating.

TSMC declined to comment.

The United States is Taiwan's most important international

backer and arms supplier, though it does not formally recognise

the island's government.