China urges US to stop Taiwan arms sales

BEIJING - The United Stated must stop selling arms to Taiwan and respect China's core interests, a Chinese defense ministry spokesman said Wednesday.

"We firmly oppose US sales of advanced weapons to Taiwan. The stance is clear, firm and consistent," said spokesman Geng Yansheng when asked to comment on US House of Representatives passage of a Taiwan-related bill.

The US bill reaffirmed the importance of the "Taiwan Relations Act" and called on the Obama administration to sell Perry-class frigates to Taiwan.

US arms sales to Taiwan violate the three China-US joint communiques, particularly the principles specified in the August 17 Communique signed in 1982, under which the US agreed to gradually reduce its arms sales to Taiwan.

While China and the US are devoted to building new models of major power relations and military relations, passing the bill despite China's strong opposition was extremely destructive and would seriously disturb the development of bilateral military relations and cross-Strait ties, Geng said.

The US must respect China's core interests and grave concerns, stop any words and actions that damage China-US relations and cross-Strait relations, stop selling arms to Taiwan and do more things conducive to healthy and steady development of relations between the two countries and militaries, Geng said.