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February 26, 2010

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US warned over Taiwan arms sales

CHINA warned the United States yesterday against any future arms sales to Taiwan and reaffirmed its decision to suspend military exchanges over Washington's plan to sell US$6.4 billion in military hardware to the island.

China demanded the US "speak and act cautiously" to avoid further damaging ties, Defense Ministry spokesman Huang Xueping said.

Huang also said there had been no change in China's decision last month to put off military contacts to protest the Obama administration's decision to sell helicopters, missiles and other weapons to Taiwan.

"The US side should bear full responsibility for the current difficult situation regarding China-US military exchanges," Huang said.

"The US arms sale to Taiwan seriously threatens China's national security, damages China's core interests, greatly disturbs the relations between the two countries and the two militaries, and tremendously harms overall China-US cooperation as well as peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.

"We demand the US side fully respect China's core interests and security concerns."

Huang's comments follow the publication this week of a US Defense Intelligence Agency report to Congress stating that Taiwan's military combat capability had been affected by the poor condition of its fighter jets.

Many observers saw the report as an excuse for the US Congress to push the Pentagon to sell advanced fighter jets to Taiwan which has been seeking such a deal without success for some time.

Huang said China was "deeply concerned" by the report.

"We demand the US side speak and act cautiously in a bid to avoid further damage to the relationship between the two nations and militaries, and to the peaceful development across the Taiwan Strait," he said.

He also criticized US media reports linking the People's Liberation Army with cyber attacks.

"Linking Internet hacking activities to the Chinese government and military is totally unfounded and utterly irresponsible," he said.

"This is stirring up a fuss for ulterior motives."

The New York Times has filed reports claiming the cyber attacks on Google and other American firms last year had been traced to Shanghai Jiao Tong University and privately run Lanxiang Vocational School in east China's Shandong Province.

The newspaper insisted that Lanxiang had close ties with the Chinese military.

"The intention to connect the cyber attacks with the Chinese government and the military is both irresponsible and calculated to create hype," Huang said.

"The Chinese government attaches great attention to combating cyber crime and is committed to improving cooperation in this regard with other countries and international organizations."


 

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