Ahead of Trump-Xi summit, China warns on US arms sales to Taiwan

BEIJING/TAIPEI – China reiterated its strong opposition to US arms sales to Taiwan on May 13, calling on Washington to honour its commitments ahead of US President Donald Trump’s arrival for a summit in Beijing.

The issue of democratically governed Taiwan, which China views as its own territory, and weapons sales to Taipei, is certain to be discussed during the two days of meetings between Mr Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

The US is bound by law to provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself, despite a lack of formal diplomatic ties. In December, the Trump administration announced a US$11 billion (S$13.9 billion) weapons package for Taiwan, the largest ever.

Ms Zhang Han, a spokesperson for China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, said Taiwan is an internal issue and a matter for the Chinese people.

“We firmly oppose the United States engaging in any form of military ties with China’s Taiwan region, and firmly oppose the United States selling weapons to China’s Taiwan region. This position is consistent and unequivocal,” she said in Beijing.

Taiwan is the “core of China’s core interests” and honouring the commitments made by successive US administrations are “international obligations that the US side is duty-bound to fulfil”, Ms Zhang added.

The US officially takes no position on Taiwan’s sovereignty under Washington’s One China policy but acknowledges, without accepting, Beijing’s position that the island is China’s.

Taiwan defence spending

Mr Trump will be in China less than a week after Taiwan’s opposition-controlled Parliament approved only two-thirds of a US$40 billion special defence budget that President Lai Ching-te had requested, funding US arms purchases but cutting domestic programmes like drones.

A senior US official said on May 10 that the US was disappointed by the approval of defence spending short of what Washington believes is needed.

A senior Taiwan security official told Reuters that the biggest risk for Taipei was that Beijing would use that reduced budget as leverage with Mr Trump.

China could “argue that Taiwan’s legislature opposes buying weapons and that the US should respect the will of the Taiwanese people – in order to persuade President Trump to halt or reduce defence support for Taiwan”, the official added.

Reuters reported in March that a second arms package, worth some US$14 billion, could be approved after Mr Trump gets back from China, but its current status is unclear.

On May 12, Mr Lai, who rejects Beijing’s sovereignty claims, told the Copenhagen Democracy Summit the island is a “sovereign, independent nation” and a beacon of democracy that would not bow to pressure.

Ms Zhang said Taiwan is a part of China that has never been, and would never be, a country.

“Our resolve to oppose Taiwan independence is as firm as a rock, and our capability to crush Taiwan independence is unbreakable,” she said.

Mr Wu Cheng, spokesman for Mr Lai’s Democratic Progressive Party, said it did not matter what China said because Taiwan had its own government, sovereignty, military and democracy, and Mr Lai would continue to let the world know of Taiwan’s “existence”.

China has never renounced the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control, but says its preferred option is “peaceful reunification”. REUTERS