Taiwan arms sale ‘hurts China security’

US arms sales to Taiwan hurt China’s national security, its foreign minister said, escalating the rhetoric in a dispute threatening to deepen rifts between the world’s biggest and third-biggest economies.

Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi was the latest and most senior official todenounce the arms sale plan Washington announced on Friday.

The Obama administration has defended the package worth about $6.4 billion (€4.6bn) as necessary to boost regional security.

Yang, travelling in Cyprus, said China and the United States had held many discussions about the arms sales, but Washington had ignored Beijing’sdemand they be stopped, the official Xinhua news agency reported yesterday.

The US should “respect China’s core interests and major concerns, and immediately rescind the mistaken decision... in order to avoid damaging broader China-US relations”, Yang said.

He said the US move had “damaged China’s national security and great task of reunification (with Taiwan)”.

Beijing considers Taiwan a breakaway province. Reflecting the intense emotions over the issue, Chinese internet users vented anger with calls to boycott top US exporter Boeing and other firms involved in the sales.

China has for years opposed US arms sales to Taiwan. For the first time, however, Beijing is seeking to pressure the US by punishing those private companies whose arms are involved in the Taiwan sales.

China said it would impose unspecified sanctions on the companies and reduce co-operation with the US unless it cancelled the new arms package.

Beijing planned to postpone or partially halt some military co-operation, including a series of visits planned for this year, among them US Defence Secretary Robert Gates’s planned trip to China, meetings between top military commanders, and mutual visits by naval ships, Xinhua reported.

US officials sought to downplay the dispute.

“We regret that the Chinese government has announced that it plans to curtail military-to-military and other security-related exchanges and take action against US firms,” said PJ Crowley, the State Department’s chief spokesman.

“We believe our policy contributes to stability and security in the region.”