BEIJING (Dispatches) – Beijing has renewed its call for the U.S. to end an arms deal with Taiwan, which China believes is its “breakaway province”.

Tan Kefei, a spokesperson for China’s Ministry of National Defense, issued a brief statement asking that Washington “revoke” the planned arms sale worth $1.1 billion to “China’s Taiwan region”.

He said the U.S. should “immediately stop arms sales to Taiwan and cease military contacts with the island”, Chinese public broadcaster CGTN reported.

The new defense deal between Washington and Taipei will include 60 Harpoon anti-ship missiles, 100 Sidewinder air-to-air missiles, and support for a surveillance radar system.

If approved by the U.S. House of Representatives, it will be the fifth and largest arms sale to the self-ruled island since Joe Biden took office

Mao Ning, the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson, also demanded of Washington to cease military contacts and sales with Taipei.

“The arms deal between the U.S. and the island of Taiwan is a blatant violation of the one-China principle and the three China-U.S. joint communique. It also infringes on China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and sends a seriously wrong signal to the ‘Taiwan independence’ forces,” Mao had said, noting that China will take “firm countermeasures to safeguard its sovereignty and security interests”.

Taipei has insisted on its independence since 1949 and maintains full diplomatic relations with 14 nations.

 Meanwhile, a U.S. lawmaker delegation arrived in Taiwan on Wednesday on a previously unannounced trip, the latest group of senior officials from the country to visit the island and defying Beijing which has reacted with anger to such trips.

The de facto U.S. embassy in Taiwan said the eight lawmakers, led by Stephanie Murphy, a Democrat from Florida who sits on the House Armed Services Committee, would be staying until Friday as part of a larger visit to the Indo-Pacific region.

“The delegation will meet with senior Taiwan leaders to discuss U.S.-Taiwan relations, regional security, trade and investment, global supply chains, and other significant issues of mutual interest,” it added.

 

‘U.S. Deliberately Escalating 

Taiwan Situation’

 

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in an interview with TASS on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF) on Wednesdays said that the U.S. is deliberately disbalancing the situation with Taiwan and escalating it. 

“What is a global clash? That provocative activity that is being carried out by the United States in the region and in the context of the situation around Taiwan, and more broadly? This is a violation of the strategic balance of power, a violation of the region’s very fragile security. Given that not everything has been easy and there have been protracted conflicts and so on,” she said when asked if there could be a global clash between China and Taiwan.

“This U.S. has done this for many years, and deliberately. The situation is being deliberately thrown off balance. For what reason? There is such a term as controlled chaos when defining U.S. policy. There are other ways to describe the situation, as an external factor for developing a resolution to the internal crises and contradictions. Numerous explanations can be provided and labels are given for their actions, but this is obvious. It is a matter of turning up the heat. We can see that the US is going for escalation,” the diplomat added.

“Because in the last month alone, U.S. officials have made a huge number of these visits for provocative purposes. And the statements we hear from Washington from various branches of the US government are nothing to talk about,” she added.

Washington’s policy on Taiwan seeks to goad China into orchestrated belligerency, Zakharova said.

Tensions remain high between China and the U.S. since a controversial visit by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taipei early last month.

A delegation of five French lawmakers and another group from the U.S. Congress are expected to visit Taiwan this week. The visit by the French delegation would be the first by high-level Europeans following a string of trips by U.S. officials and lawmakers that have drawn China’s ire.

Taipei’s foreign ministry said the French delegation would arrive on Wednesday for a 4-day visit. The delegation is scheduled to meet Vice President William Lai, it said.