MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 02nd August, 2023) The Chinese Foreign Ministry condemned on Wednesday the decision of the United States to supply Taiwan with $345 million worth of weaponry, adding that Beijing's determination to protect its sovereignty should not be underestimated.
"No one should underestimate the determination, resolve and capability of the Chinese people in safeguarding our sovereignty and territorial integrity," the Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
The US provision of military aid for Taiwan seriously violates the one-China principle and the stipulations of the three China-US joint communiques, as well as harms China-US relations and peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, the ministry added.
Earlier in the day, the Financial Times reported that US President Joe Biden would ask Congress to fund arms supply to Taiwan as a part of a supplemental budget request for Ukraine. If the request is approved by Congress, Taiwan will for the first time receive weaponry through a US taxpayer-funded system known as "foreign military financing," the media added.
In July, the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Mark Milley, said that Washington and its allies must step up their support of Taiwan in order to improve the island's defense capabilities.
The United States is the main provider of arms to Taiwan, which is one of sources of tension with China.
Taiwan has been governed independently from mainland China since 1949. Beijing views the island as its province, while Taiwan - a territory with its own elected government - maintains that it is an autonomous country but stops short of declaring independence. Beijing opposes any official contacts of foreign states with Taipei and considers Chinese sovereignty over the island indisputable.
