China condemns U.S. arms sales to Taiwan

China on Thursday voiced firm objection to the United State's two new arms sales to the Taiwan region, urging Washington to stop military contacts with the island and not create new tense elements to the situation across the Taiwan Straits.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning made the remarks after the U.S. State Department on Tuesday approved sales worth more than $425 million of spare aircraft parts to support Taiwan's fleet of F-16 fighters, C-130 transport planes and other U.S.-supplied weapons systems.

The package included $330 million in standard replacement parts and $98 million in non-standard equipment along with related accessories and logistics.

"China is strongly dissatisfied with and firmly opposed to that," Mao told a regular news briefing, vowing that the country would take forceful measures to resolutely safeguard its sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Mao said such acts flagrantly violates the one-China principle and the three China-U.S. joint communiques, especially the August 17 Communique.

"Selling weapons to China's Taiwan region damages China's sovereignty and security interests, undermines the peace and stability across the Taiwan Straits, and sends erroneous signals to the ‘Taiwan independence' separatist forces," she added.

The sales were announced just weeks after the leaders of China and the U.S. met for talks in Indonesia in which U.S. President Joe Biden reiterated commitment to the one-China policy, saying the U.S. government does not seek to use the Taiwan question as a tool to contain China.

"China urges the U.S. to abide by the one-China principle and stipulations of the three China-U.S. joint communiques, and earnestly take actions to honor the pledge made by the U.S. leaders that the U.S. does not support ‘Taiwan independence'," Mao said.

The U.S. should stop the arms sales to Taiwan region and refrain from exploiting Taiwan to contain China so as not to go further down a wrong and dangerous path, she added.