Beijing urges US to cancel weapons sales to Taiwan

China urged Washington on Saturday to abandon plans to sell missile equipment to Taiwan, warning the move would violate its security and severely undermine trust between the US and Chinese militaries. "The US arms sales to Taiwan infringe upon China's security interest as well as peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, and interfere with China's internal affairs," foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said in a statement.
Vice Foreign Minister He Yafei called Taiwan "the most important and sensitive issue at the core of Sino-US relations", in an interview Saturday with the official Xinhua news agency, adding China "resolutely opposed" the arms sales. A US official in Taipei said on Thursday the US Defence Department had approved the sale of Patriot missile equipment to Taiwan as part of a package passed by Congress more than a year ago.
The foreign ministry statements came after China's defence ministry warned that it reserved the right to take unspecified further action if Washington followed through with the plan. "The US side clings obstinately to the Bush administration's plan of arms sales to Taiwan, which severely undermines the mutual trust between the two militaries," defence ministry spokesman Huang Xueping said.
"It also brings a severe obstacle to the improvement and development of China-US military ties. We reserve the right of taking further actions." When US President Barack Obama visited Beijing in November, the United States and China vowed to take "concrete steps to advance sustained and reliable military-to-military relations in the future".
The foreign ministry said it had made "solemn representations to the US" over the matter. "We urge the US to stop arms sales to Taiwan to avoid undermining China-US co-operation," Jiang said. The Defence Department said on Wednesday the contract for Lockheed Martin involved "basic missile tooling upgrades". The Pentagon notified Congress in October 2008 of 6.5 billion dollars in arms sales to Taiwan, sparking condemnation from China. The package included 330 Patriot Advanced Capability (PAC-3) missiles worth up to 3.1 billion dollars. The contract now awarded by the Pentagon, which totals 968.7 million dollars and also covers deals not involving Taiwan, appears to be for only part of the missile sale announced in 2008.