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BEIJING — China said on Wednesday Taiwan was scaremongering with talk of a possible Chinese attack, after Taiwan’s foreign minister said Beijing could resort to military conflict to divert domestic pressure if an economic slowdown bites.

As Taiwan’s presidential elections approach in January, China has stepped up a campaign to “reunify” with what it considers a wayward province, wooing away the island’s few diplomatic allies and flying regular bomber patrols around it.

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And President Xi Jinping said in January that China reserves the right to use force to bring Taiwan under its control but will strive to achieve peaceful “reunification.”

Taiwan Foreign Minister Joseph Wu told Reuters last week that China could attack the democratic and self-ruled island if any threat to China’s ruling Communist Party arises from social pressures that could result from any slowdown in the world’s second largest economy amid a trade war with the United States.