Crisis is palpable between China and US over Joe Biden administration’s approval of US$1.1 billion arms sale to Taiwan.
Subsequently, China has warned the United States it will take “counter-measures” after the approval.
Chinese embassy spokesman Liu Pengyu said Saturday China was “firmly opposed” to the sales, which “severely jeopardize China-U.S. relations and peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait,” and called on Washington to “immediately revoke” them.
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Liu’s comments on Twitter came after the Biden administration on Friday formally notified Congress of the proposed sales, which include up to 60 anti-ship missiles and up to 100 air-to-air missiles.
The State Department said the sales are in line with a longstanding U.S. policy of providing defensive weapons to the island and described the “swift provision” of such arms as being “essential for Taiwan’s security.”
Biden administration on Friday announced a more than $1 billion arms sale to Taiwan as U.S.-China tensions escalate over the status of the island.
The $1.09 billion sale includes $355 million for Harpoon air-to-sea missiles and $85 million for Sidewinder air-to-air missiles, the State Department said.
China, however, has accused the U.S. of interfering in what it sees as its internal affairs.
China’s Communist Party claims Taiwan, a self-governing democracy, as part of its territory — despite never having governed it — and has long vowed to “reunify” the island with the Chinese mainland, by force if necessary.
“The U.S. interferes in China’s internal affairs and undermines China’s sovereignty and security interests by selling arms to Taiwan,” Liu tweeted.
“It sends the wrong signals to ‘Taiwan independence’ separatist forces and severely jeopardizes China-U.S. relations and peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait,” Liu said.
He called on the U.S. to “honour its commitments to the one-China principle” and ended his series of tweets by saying Taiwan is “an inalienable part of the Chinese territory” and warned China will “resolutely take legitimate and necessary counter-measures.”
U.S.-China tensions have spiked since House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan last month.
