TSAMTO, August 30. China demands that the United States stop selling arms to Taiwan and abandon military contacts with Taipei in order to avoid further escalation of tensions in the region.
This was stated to RIA Novosti by the official representative of the Chinese Embassy in Washington, Liu Pengyu.
As Politico newspaper reported earlier, citing unnamed sources, US President Joe Biden intends to soon appeal to Congress with a request to approve the sale of American weapons to Taiwan in the amount of about $ 1.1 billion.
According to Politico, we are talking about 60 AGM-84K Harpoon Block II anti-ship missiles and about 100 AIM-9X Block II Sidewinder air-to-air missiles.
"The sale of weapons by the United States to Taiwan seriously violates the principle of "one China" and the provisions of the three joint Sino-American communiques, encourages separatist forces advocating Taiwan independence, and leads to an escalation of tensions in the Taiwan Strait," Liu Pengyu told RIA Novosti when asked to comment on the upcoming arms sale.
The diplomat noted that the United States should "immediately stop selling weapons to Taiwan and military contacts with it, stop creating factors that can provoke an increase in tension in the Taiwan Strait, and in fact reinforce the statement of the US government about the rejection of Taiwan's independence."
At the same time, Liu Pengyu stressed that China "will continue to take decisive and effective measures in order to firmly protect its sovereignty and security interests."
