China urges US to annul its $1.1 bln arms deal with Taiwan

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
6 Sep 2022 21:26

China demands Washington's withdrawal of its $1.1 bln arms deal with Taiwan despite issuing no warnings to the US.

China urges the US to annul its $1.1 bln arms deal with Taiwan

Chinese Defense Ministry spokesman Tan Kefei said on Tuesday that China is urging the US to annul its $1.1 billion arms deal with Taiwan and to cease all military contacts with the country.

On September 3, the Pentagon said the US State Department had approved $1.1 billion for a potential arms deal with Taiwan. The agreement provides for the supply of 60 AGM-84K Harpoon Block II anti-ship missiles for a total of $355 million and 100 AIM-9X Block II Sidewinder air-to-air missiles for $85.6 million to the island, as well as the extension of a contract on radar stations in the amount of $665.4 million.

"We demand that the US immediately withdraw the arms deal with Taiwan and immediately stop military contacts with Taiwan," Tan was quoted as saying by the Chinese Defense Ministry.

According to the spokesman, the US has breached its commitment not to support the independence of Taiwan, while its military contacts with the island's ruling Democratic Progressive Party have become even closer recently.

"The sale of arms by the US to China's Taiwan violates the One China principle and provisions of the three China-US communiques... This is a gross interference in China's domestic politics, which harms China's sovereignty and security interests, and exacerbates the situation in the Taiwan Strait. China is strongly opposed to it," Tan considered.

The People's Liberation Army of China intends to further its combat training to prevent any foreign interference and attempts by Taiwanese separatists to break away from the mainland, the spokesman affirmed.

In the same context, a spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in Washington, Liu Pengyu, remarked a couple of days ago on the arms deal between the US and Taiwan to TASS, saying it "severely jeopardizes China-US relations and peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait. China will resolutely take legitimate and necessary countermeasures in light of the development of the situation."

Liu affirmed that "Taiwan is an inalienable part of the Chinese territory. The United States interferes in China's internal affairs and undermines China's sovereignty and security interests by selling arms to the Taiwan region."

It is noteworthy that this week, the Taiwanese Ministry of Defense confirmed that it bought a new batch of the US Javelin anti-tank missiles and announced that it was planning on increasing its order of the HIMARS rocket systems amid heightened tensions with China.

Taiwan announced last week plans to increase its security budget, proposing a security budget of $13.7 billion for 2023, marking a 13% year-on-year increase, pending parliamentary approval.

Tensions soared between China and Taiwan earlier last month, reaching their highest in decades, due to a visit by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to the island after Beijing warned both Washington and Taipei against such a trip.

The bipartisan trip sparked a caustic response from Beijing, which said it had carried out "combat readiness patrol and combat drills in the sea and airspace around Taiwan island."

In response to the delegation's visit, Beijing called on Washington to "stop going further down the wrong path of hollowing out and distorting the one-China principle, so as not to cause further damage to China-US relations and peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait."

Chinese officials had stated that China will continue to take decisive and forceful action to vehemently protect its security and sovereignty interests and has carried out military drills several times around the island.

It has nonetheless criticized the US over its repetitive sending of warships to the Taiwan Strait in a show of force under the pretext of freedom of navigation, which is deliberately undermining regional peace and stability.