China urges U.S. to revoke arms sales plan to Taiwan

BEIJING, July 18 (Xinhua) -- China firmly opposes U.S. arms sales to Taiwan and urges the United States to revoke the arms sales plan, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said here Monday.

It was reported that the U.S. State Department approved a sale of up to 108 million U.S. dollars worth of military technical support to the "Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the United States."

In response, Wang said the U.S. arms sales to China's Taiwan region seriously violate the one-China principle and the three China-U.S. joint communiques, particularly the Aug. 17 Communique, gravely undermine China's sovereignty and security interests, and severely harm China-U.S. relations and peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.

"China firmly opposes and strongly condemns this, and has lodged solemn representations with the U.S. side," he said.

China urges the U.S. side to abide by the one-China principle and the China-U.S. joint communiques, revoke the arms sales plan to Taiwan, and stop arms sales to and military ties with Taiwan, Wang said.

"China will continue to take resolute and strong measures to firmly defend its sovereignty and security interests," he added.