WASHINGTON // China has abruptly cancelled a series of military and diplomatic contacts with the United States to protest a planned multibillion dollar US arms sale to Taiwan, American officials said. Beijing has notified the US that it will not go forward with several senior level visits and other co-operative military-to-military plans, said Marine Maj Stewart Upton, a defence department spokesman, said yesterday.
"In response to Friday's announcement of Taiwan arms sales, the People's Republic of China cancelled or postponed several upcoming military-to-military exchanges," he said, lamenting that "China's continued politicisation of our military relationship results in missed opportunities". The Chinese action will not affect the country's participation with the United States in six-nation talks to get North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons or its participation in the international effort on Iran's nuclear programme, US officials said.
But it does include the cancellation of an upcoming visit to the United States by a senior Chinese general, other similar trips, several port calls by naval vessels and the indefinite postponement of meetings on stopping the spread of weapons of mass destruction, the officials said. "It's an unfortunate step," said deputy State Department spokesman Robert Wood. Beijing is furious with the US decision to sell Taiwan the huge US$6.5 billion (Dh23.8bn) package of advanced weaponry and military items, including guided missiles and attack helicopters.
China, which regards Taiwan as a renegade province, says the sale interferes with internal Chinese affairs and harms its national security. "The Chinese government and the Chinese people strongly oppose and object to the US government's actions, which harm Chinese interests and Sino-US relations," its foreign ministry said in a statement on Saturday, adding that US diplomats had been summoned to hear a strong protest.
Zhou Wenzhong, China's Ambassador to the United States, was expected to register a similar protest about the arms sale yesterday with the State Department. A spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in Washington said it would be "only natural" for the ambassador to lodge the protest. Maj Upton said the sale does not represent a change in US policy and that Washington is only upholding the provisions of the Taiwan Relations Act under which the US makes available items necessary for Taiwan to maintain a sufficient self defence.
Taiwan relies on US weapons to keep pace with China's massive arms build-up across the Taiwan Strait. *AP