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China threatens U.S. with sanctions on Taiwan arms

30 January 2010 14:18 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. China threatened U.S. firms who sell weapons to Taiwan with sanctions on Saturday, as Beijing ratcheted up the pressure in a ballooning crisis that will widen already deep rifts in their relationship, APA reports quoting Reuters.
The Foreign Ministry, Defense Ministry and China’s Taiwan Affairs Office all piled in with their own dire warnings, including that arms sales would affect Sino-U.S. cooperation on major international and regional issues.
"The United States must be responsible for the serious repercussions if it does not immediately reverse the mistaken decision to sell Taiwan weapons," Chinese Vice Foreign Minister He Yafei told the U.S. ambassador to China, Jon Huntsman.
He said Taiwan was the "most important and most sensitive core issue in Sino-U.S. relations," in comments carried on the Foreign Ministry’s website (www.mfa.gov.cn).
The Obama administration told the U.S. Congress on Friday of the proposed sales to Taiwan, a potential $6.4 billion package including Black Hawk helicopters, Patriot "Advanced Capability-3" anti-missile missiles, and two refurbished Osprey-class mine-hunting ships.
The Black Hawk, a tactical transport helicopter, is built by Sikorsky Aircraft, a unit of United Technologies Corp. The Patriot missile is built by Lockheed Martin Corp, and Raytheon Co is the system integrator.
"China will also impose corresponding sanctions on U.S. companies that engage in weapons sales to Taiwan," the Foreign Ministry said, without naming any firms.
China will also postpone military contacts between the two sides, as also vice-ministerial level consultation on strategic security, arms control and non-proliferation.
"It will be unavoidable that cooperation between China and the United States over important international and regional issues will also be affected," the Foreign Ministry said.
Washington has looked to China for help in surmounting the global financial crisis, dealing with Iran and North Korea, and fighting climate change.
The U.S. arms sales to Taiwan have joined trade imbalances, currency disputes, human rights, the Internet, and Tibet among rifts dividing the world’s biggest and third-biggest economies.
Washington and Beijing have also recently traded angry words about Internet policy after the search engine giant Google Inc earlier this month threatened to shut its Chinese google.cn portal and pull out of China, citing censorship problems and hacking attacks.
In coming months Obama may meet the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan leader China calls a dangerous separatist, adding to Beijing’s ire with Washington.
Vice Minister He said the arms sales were "crude interference in China’s domestic affairs and seriously harm China’s national security."