China has warned the United States that it will take “countermeasures” after the Biden administration approved more than $1.1 billion in arms sales to Taiwan.
Chinese embassy spokesman Liu Pengyu said on Saturday that China “resolutely opposes” the sales, which “seriously threaten China-US relations and peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait”, and called on Washington to “immediately revoke” them.
Liu’s comments on Twitter came after the Biden administration formally notified Congress on Friday 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 sale was in line with long-standing US policy of providing defensive weapons to the island and described the “prompt provision” of such weapons as “essential to Taiwan’s security”.
But China has accused the US of interfering in what it sees as its internal affairs.
The Chinese Communist Party claims Taiwan, a self-governing democracy, as part of its territory — though it has never ruled it — and has long vowed to “reunify” the island with mainland China, if necessary by force.
“The US is interfering in China’s internal affairs and undermining China’s sovereignty and security interests by selling arms to Taiwan,” Liu wrote on Twitter.
“It sends the wrong signals to ‘Taiwan independence’ separatist forces and seriously threatens China-US relations and peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait,” Liu said.
He called on the US to “uphold its commitments to the one-China principle” and ended his series of tweets by declaring that Taiwan was an “inalienable part of Chinese territory” and warned that China would “resolutely take legitimate and necessary countermeasures.” “
Tensions between the US and China have risen since House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan last month.
China warned Pelosi about the trip and responded by ordering military exercises around the island after she left.
Taiwan said on Saturday it “very much welcomes” the latest arms sales and thanked the US government for “continuing to fulfill its security commitments to Taiwan”.
In an incident that underscored heightened tensions, Taiwan’s military on Thursday shot down a drone hovering over one of its island bases just off China’s coast.
A day earlier, Taiwan said it had warned of drones hovering over three islands it occupies off the coast of the Chinese port city of Xiamen.
“In response to China’s recent continuous military provocations and unilateral changes to the status quo and creation of crises, Taiwan’s determination to defend itself is extremely firm,” Taiwan’s foreign ministry said on Saturday.
“This batch of arms sales includes a large number of different types of missiles that are needed to strengthen Taiwan’s self-defense, which fully demonstrates the great importance the US government attaches to Taiwan’s defense needs, helping our country acquire the equipment needed for defense in a timely manner and to increase our national defense capabilities.”