China blocks US military visits over Taiwan arms deal
BEIJING: Beijing has suspended visits between the Chinese and US armed forces in protest at Washington's plan to sell weapons worth 6.4 billion dollars to Taiwan, state media said Saturday.
The defence ministry official in charge of foreign affairs, Qian Lihua, had summoned the US Embassy in Beijing's defence attache on Saturday afternoon to complain about the arms deal, the official Xinhua news agency reported.
Defence officials were not immediately available for comment and the agency did not provide further details. Initially, Xinhua had said a military visit was scheduled for Sunday but it removed the reference from later reports.
Deputy foreign minister He Yafei had said in a statement earlier Saturday the arms deal was bound to damage Sino-US relations, bringing about serious negative impact on exchange and cooperation in major areas between the two countries, causing results that both sides do not want to see.
The US on Friday approved the sale of an arms package that includes Patriot missiles, Black Hawk helicopters, and communications equipment for Taiwan's F-16 fleet.
The last US arms package for Taiwan, announced under previous president George W. Bush in October 2008, led China to cut off military relations with the United States temporarily.
The latest move constituted crude interference in China's internal affairs that seriously endangers China's national security and damages China's peaceful reunification, He said in the statement, which was also delivered to the US ambassador to China, Jon Huntsmen.
China considers Taiwan, where nationalists fled in 1949 after losing the mainland's civil war, to be a territory awaiting reunification, by force if necessary. It had warned Washington repeatedly against the arms sales.
He urged the US to fully understand the serious harm presented by the arms sales to Taiwan, take seriously China's solemn position and immediately withdraw its mistaken decision to sell arms to Taiwan.
The sale marks US President Barack Obama's most divisive act toward China, after devoting his first year to broadening ties with Beijing despite discord on areas such as trade, human rights, Internet censorship and climate change.
This is a clear demonstration of the commitment that this administration has to provide Taiwan the defensive weapons it needs, State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said on Friday.
The United States since 1979 has recognised Beijing as China's sole government. But Congress at the same time required the United States to sell Taiwan weapons for its self-defence.
Beijing argued again on Saturday that the arms sales violated the US commitment to Beijing's One China policy.
Analysts said China this time could retaliate by
refusing to support sanctions on Iran, a key US priority. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton appealed to Beijing on Iran's nuclear program in remarks in Paris hours before the Taiwan sale was announced.
DAWN.COM | World | China blocks US military visits over Taiwan arms deal
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, well, it is playing power politics, create a wedge, hammer it in, keep hitting it to weaken your enemy.
