US arms sales to Taiwan undermine China-US relations and endanger peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Sunday.
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Earlier, the Pentagon approved the sale of spare parts for F-16 fighter jets and radars to Taiwan for $385 million, a statement from the department said.
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According to the Chinese Foreign Ministry, US arms sales to Taiwan seriously violate the “one China” principle and the provisions of the three joint Sino-American communiqués, and also seriously violate China’s sovereignty and security interests.
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“This violates international law and sends false signals to Taiwanese separatists, undermines China-US relations, and endangers peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait,” a statement on the Chinese Foreign Ministry website said.
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They also pointed out that such actions run counter to statements by American leaders that they do not support Taiwanese independence.
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“The Chinese side expresses strong dissatisfaction and has made serious representations to the United States,” the statement said.
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The Foreign Ministry also noted that “China calls on the United States to stop arming Taiwan and condoning Taiwanese separatists in their desire to achieve independence with weapons.”
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The situation around Taiwan escalated after Nancy Pelosi, then Speaker of the US House of Representatives, visited the island in early August 2022. China, which considers the island part of its territory, condemned Pelosi’s visit as US support for Taiwanese separatism and held large-scale military exercises.
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Official relations between the Chinese central government and its island province were interrupted in 1949 after the Kuomintang forces led by Chiang Kai-shek, defeated in the civil war with the Chinese Communist Party, moved to Taiwan. Business and informal contacts between the island and mainland China resumed in the late 1980s. Since the early 1990s, the parties began to contact through non-governmental organizations – the Beijing Association for the Development of Cross-Strait Relations (ATR) and the Taipei Cross-Taiwan Strait Exchange Foundation (TSF).
