BEIJING, Nov. 4 -- The Chinese military has voiced strong dissatisfaction and firm opposition to US approval of selling MQ-9 unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to Taiwan.
Senior Colonel Wu Qian, spokesperson for China’s Ministry of National Defense (MND), made a written statement when asked to comment on media reports saying that the US side approved on November 3rd to sell four MQ-9 drones totaling worth 600 million US dollars to Taiwan.
Wu pointed out that the US arms sales to Taiwan is a flagrant violation of the one-China principle and the three China-US joint communiqués and a grave challenge to China's core interests, seriously jeopardizes China's sovereignty, security and territorial integrity. "The move by the US side significantly damages relations between the two countries and the two militaries, endangers peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, China firmly opposes and strongly condemns it," Wu said.
The Taiwan question matters for China's sovereignty and territorial integrity, and is vital to China's core interests, any attempt of using Taiwan to contain China or seeking "Taiwan independence" with force is a dead–end road, stressed Wu.
"China urges the US side to fully understand the greatly hazardous nature of selling weapons to Taiwan, immediately cancel all its plans of arms sales to Taiwan, stop selling weapons to the island and cease US-Taiwan military contact and handle Taiwan-related issues prudently and properly, so as not to cause any immeasurable serious consequences to Sino-American bilateral and mil-to-mil relations, as well as to the peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait," said the spokesperson.
Those who play with fire will get burned, said Wu, stressing that the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) will never allow anyone or any force to split China's sacred territory, and if someone acts capriciously and obstinately, the PLA surely will give him a head-on blow.
