Beijing, June 8 (EFE).- China’s Ministry of Defense urged the US to revoke its plan to sell weapons to Taiwan, after the US State Department authorized the possible sale of spare parts, components, supplies and accessories of the F-16 fighter to the island for a value of 300 million dollars.
Defense Ministry spokesman Zhang Xiaogang declared this Friday that US arms sales to Taiwan “seriously violate the ‘one China’ principle.”
Zhang noted that the transaction “undermines China’s sovereignty and security and represents a serious threat to peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait,” the ministry said in a statement.
The spokesman expressed his country’s “strong discontent” and its “firm opposition.”
The spokesperson stressed that the Taiwan issue is the “first red line that should not be crossed” in China-US relations.
Zhang warned that “supporting Taiwanese separatist forces” will only “increase tension in the region, push Taiwan into a dangerous situation, and ultimately harm the United States.”
In a statement, the Ministry of National Defense (MDN) of Taiwan indicated this week that the purchase, which will be made official within approximately a month, includes general parts of the F-16 fighter for 220 million dollars (202 million euros) and other specific ones for 80 million dollars (73 million euros).
The island’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, for its part, noted that this movement demonstrates that Washington’s “security commitment” to Taipei “is solid as a rock.”
This sale of US military equipment to Taiwan, the 14th under US President Joe Biden’s administration, is the first to be announced following the inauguration of William Lai (Lai Ching-te) as Taiwan’s new president.
The Lai Government, considered a “secessionist” and a “troublemaker” by the authorities in Beijing, was greeted with two days of military maneuvers by the Chinese Army around the island.
Taiwan – where the Chinese nationalist army withdrew after defeat at the hands of communist troops in the civil war (1927-1949) – has been governed autonomously since the end of the war, although China claims sovereignty over the island. which he considers a rebellious province for whose “reunification” he has not ruled out the use of force.
The Taiwanese issue is one of the main points of friction between Beijing and Washington, since the US is Taipei’s main arms supplier and could defend the island in the event of a conflict.
