Ministry opposes U.S.' missile shipment to Taiwan

China firmly opposes the United States' latest delivery of missiles to the Taiwan region and has lodged serious representations with the U.S. side over "this utterly wrong and dangerous move", Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said on Friday.

Washington's supply of arms to Taiwan seriously violates the provisions of the three China-U.S. joint communiques, especially the August 17 Communique of 1982, Mao said.

The move also interferes in China's internal affairs, undermines China's sovereignty and security interests, and harms peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, she told reporters at a regular news briefing in Beijing.

According to media reports, a Taiwan defense official confirmed that the U.S. is starting to provide its $500 million worth of weapons aid to the region through the Presidential Drawdown Authority, and the first consignment of Stinger surface-to-air missiles had arrived on Thursday.

Under the U.S. National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023, the U.S. Congress authorized up to $1 billion worth of weapons aid for Taiwan using the drawdown, a fast-track authority that has been exercised more than 35 times to send arms to Ukraine.

From a former senior White House official's public statement on destroying Taiwan's semiconductor factories, including the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co, to a Republican presidential candidate's call for guns in every Taiwanese household, the U.S.' intent to use Taiwan to contain China cannot be more obvious, the spokeswoman said.

"The 1.4 billion Chinese people, including Taiwan compatriots, do not accept it," Mao said, urging Washington to stop arming Taiwan with weapons. "We urge the U.S. side to stop military contact with Taiwan, stop creating factors that could lead to tensions in the Taiwan Strait, and stop encouraging and supporting 'Taiwan independence' separatist forces to seek 'independence' with military force."

Mao also warned the Democratic Progressive Party authorities that it would only be a dead end if they tried to use foreign support, including weapons from the U.S., to seek "Taiwan independence".