China says US arms sale to Taiwan harms ties

[October 07, 2008]  BEIJING (AP) -- A planned multibillion dollar U.S. arms sale to Taiwan threatens China's national security and has cast a pall over military relations between Beijing and Washington, the foreign ministry said Tuesday.

The sale undermines years of efforts to improve military ties between China and the United States, Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said.

Qin refused to confirm comments by U.S. officials that China had canceled a series of military and diplomatic contacts to protest the sale.

The U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency announced Friday it had notified the U.S. Congress of plans to sell $6.5 billion in advanced weaponry to Taiwan, including guided missiles and attack helicopters. Under procedures for such foreign military sales, the deal would proceed if no lawmaker voices an objection within 30 days of the notification.

The U.S. is determined to sell the weapons to Taiwan, a move "which has contaminated the sound atmosphere for our military relations and gravely jeopardized China's national security," Qin told a regular news conference.

While harsh in tone, the comments veered little from established Chinese parlance in protesting U.S. military contacts with Taiwan, which Beijing claims as its own territory. China threatens to attack should the self-governing island ever formalize its de facto independence.

Taiwan relies on U.S. weapons to keep pace with China's massive arms buildup across the Taiwan Strait. U.S. arms sales to Taiwan are a crucial matter because any dispute between China and Taiwan could ensnare the United States, which is bound by U.S. law to ensure the island has the means to defend itself.

The U.S. is Taiwan's most important ally and largest arms supplier.

In Washington, U.S. officials said Beijing had notified the government that it will not go forward with several senior-level visits and other cooperative military-to-military plans.

The Chinese action will not affect the country's participation with the United States in six-nation talks to get North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons, or its participation in the international effort on Iran's nuclear program, the officials said.

But it does include the cancellation of an upcoming visit to the United States by a senior Chinese general, other similar trips, several port calls by naval vessels, and the indefinite postponement of meetings on stopping the spread of weapons of mass destruction, the officials said.

China has said it summoned U.S. diplomats to protest the sale.

[Associated Press; By HENRY SANDERSON]

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