‘Outraged’ China calls for US to revoke weapons sale

Reuters, BEIJING

China urged the US to immediately revoke its “wrong decision” to sell Taiwan US$1.42 billion of arms, saying it contradicted a “consensus” Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) reached with US President Donald Trump in talks in Florida in April.

The sale would send a very wrong message to “Taiwan independence” forces, China’s embassy in Washington said in a statement.

A US Department of State spokeswoman on Thursday said the administration had told US Congress of seven proposed sales to Taiwan, the first under Trump.

“The Chinese government and Chinese people have every right to be outraged,” the embassy said.

“The wrong move of the US side runs counter to the consensus reached by the two presidents and the positive development momentum of the China-US relationship,” the embassy said.

The Chinese Ministry of National Defense said Taiwan was the “most important, most sensitive core issue in Sino-US ties,” warning the US to end such sales to avoid further damaging peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.

Trump was critical of China during his successful presidential campaign last year, but a meeting at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida with Xi raised hopes for warmer relations.

Trump later played up his personal relationship with Xi, calling him a “good man” and stressing the need for China’s help in reining in a defiant North Korea’s development of nuclear weapons and missiles.

China’s anger over the US plan to supply Taiwan with weapons risks undermining Trump’s attempts to press China to help on North Korea.

Asked about the sale at an event on Thursday evening in Washington, Chinese Ambassador to the US Cui Tiankai (崔天凱) said that the US was “incorrigible” when it came to Taiwan, the Chinese Communist Party’s official People’s Daily reported on its Web site.

“But we should still continue to instruct [them] and continue advancing on the right track of China-US relations, because this is what truly fits for both countries’ long-term interests,” the newspaper quoted Cui as saying.