China on Wednesday reaffirmed its firm opposition to U.S. weapons sales to Taiwan, urging Washington to uphold its commitments ahead of U.S. President Donald Trump’s visit to Beijing for a summit.
The matter of Taiwan, a democratically governed island that China claims as its own territory, along with arms sales to Taipei, is expected to feature prominently during the two days of talks this week between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
The U.S. is bound by law to provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself, despite a lack of formal diplomatic ties. In December, the Trump administration announced an $11 billion weapons package for Taiwan, the largest ever.
Zhang Han, a spokesperson for China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, said Taiwan is an internal issue and a matter for the Chinese people.
“We firmly oppose the United States engaging in any form of military ties with China’s Taiwan region, and firmly oppose the United States selling weapons to China’s Taiwan region. This position is consistent and unequivocal,” she said in Beijing.
Taiwan Defence Spending
Trump will be in China less than a week after Taiwan’s opposition-controlled parliament approved only two-thirds of a $40 billion special defence budget that President Lai Ching-te had requested, funding U.S. arms purchases but cutting domestic programmes like drones.
A senior U.S. official said on Sunday that the U.S. was disappointed by the approval of defence spending short of what Washington believes is needed.
A senior Taiwan security official told Reuters that the biggest risk for Taipei was that Beijing would use that reduced budget as leverage with Trump.
China could “argue that Taiwan’s legislature opposes buying weapons and that the U.S. should respect the will of the Taiwanese people – in order to persuade President Trump to halt or reduce defence support for Taiwan”, the official added.
In March a second arms package, worth some $14 billion, could be approved after Trump gets back from China, but its current status is unclear.
(With inputs from Reuters)
