Chinese Foreign Ministry Warns U.S. Against Tightening Military Cooperation With Taiwan

Beijing is “extremely discontent” with the United States’ plan to develop military cooperation with Taiwan and warns Washington against jeopardizing stability in the region, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said on Wednesday.

In May, the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee published a report on 2019’s defence budget, which contained a section on strengthening military cooperation with Taiwan.

It, however, includes joint drills and arms sales, and increasing U.S. military presence in the East China Sea.

The Senate passed the bill in June, though it is yet to be approved by the House of Representatives.

“China is extremely discontent and lodges a strong protest against the aforementioned provisions regarding the PRC [People’s Republic of China, formal name of the country],’’ Geng said at a media briefing.

According to the spokesman, if the bill is passed, it will undermine trust and cooperation between China and the U.S. while also threatening the stability in the Taiwan Strait.

“China is urging the United States to abandon the Cold War mentality.

“Also to abandon the principle of a ‘zero-sum game’ by removing the negative content in question from the document in order to support the development of bilateral interstate relations and not to interfere with it,’’ Geng added.

Taiwan, situated on a group of islands southwest of mainland China, broke away in 1949.

While business and unofficial contacts between the two sides resumed in late 1980s, China refuses diplomatic relations with any country that recognizes Taiwan as a state.

Report says the U.S. is among the countries which do not recognise Taiwan as an independent state.

The U.S. government declared it would end all political ties with Taiwan after the joint 1979 communique, but continued to maintain economic and cultural relations via the American Institute in Taiwan.

In 2015, then President Barack Obama approved an arms sale package to Taiwan in the amount of 1.83 billion dollars, while his successor, Donald Trump signed the Taiwan Travel Act, allowing U.S. officials to travel to the island and meet their Taiwanese counterparts.