China on Dec 18 pledged to take countermeasures in opposition to companies being a prominent part in arms sales to Taiwan after the United States accepted a US$300 million (S$400 million) deal to beef up the island’s defences. China understands Taiwan as slice of its territory and has vowed to halt it one day, whilst the US Congress needs the supply of weapons to the self-ruling democracy for its defence. The US State Department latest week accepted an arms package that both sides said would polish Taipei’s joint battle command and control system.
Beijing hit back on Dec 18, saying it would take “resolute and strong measures to defend its national sovereignty and territorial integrity”. “We will take countermeasures in opposition to relevant enterprises involved in arms sales to Taiwan,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said at a regular news briefing. The US “should halt the perilous trend of arming Taiwan, cease making tensions in the Taiwan Strait, and put a halt on indulging and supporting the separatist forces of Taiwan independence in their quest for achieving independence by force”, he said.
“China will naturally reunify, and indeed definately should reunify.” Beijing has ratcheted up the pressure on Taiwan since independence-leaning President Tsai Ing-wen took power in 2016. It regularly sends warplanes and vessels near the island, whose Defence Ministry recently also reported several sightings of balloons from the mainland. Both Washington and Taipei have given a warning to Beijing not to look for to influence the presidential election in Taiwan in January.