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China military decries U.S. arms package for Taiwan
10 Oct 2008 01:46:28 GMT
 Source: Reuters
BEIJING, Oct 10 (Reuters) - A Chinese military spokesman said relations with the United States are sure to suffer after Washington announced a big arms package for disputed Taiwan, warning high-level contacts could be frozen.

China claims Taiwan, divided from the mainland since 1949, as a part of its sovereign territory and says the self-ruled island must accept eventual reunification, by force if necessary.

A Pentagon spokesman had said Beijing was curtailing military exchanges after the $6.5 billion Taiwan package, including 30 Apache attack helicopters and 330 Patriot missiles, was announced last week.

China confirmed the retaliatory move, keeping up a chorus of official warnings over the deal, which Beijing appears to fear will embolden Taiwan in political negotiations.

"For the U.S. side to spurn China's vehement objections and insist on passing the Taiwan arms sale proposal to Congress for review will undoubtedly seriously damage military ties between China and the United States," Chinese Defence Department spokesman Huang Xueping said in remarks issued by the official Xinhua news agency late on Thursday.

"This will create an obstacle to exchanges and cooperation in a range of spheres, including high-level military contacts. The responsibility for this is entirely the United States'."

Military contacts between the United States and China have long been limited and low-key. But U.S. commanders have sought to strengthen ties in an effort to ease distrust between the world's biggest military power and the rising Asian power.

China and Taiwan have been locked in a sometimes volatile military standoff since 1949, when Mao Zedong's Communists won a civil war and Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalists fled to the island.

The United States switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979, but Washington remains Taiwan's strongest backer and biggest arms supplier. Legislation obliges the U.S. government to help Taiwan defend itself. (Reporting by Chris Buckley; Editing by Nick Macfie)


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