Beijing warns against US arms sale to Taiwan

China’s foreign minister warned that US plans to sell $6.4bn (€4.6bn) worth of arms to Taiwan will harm Chinese efforts to unify peacefully with the island, the ministry said, after China suspended US military exchanges and threatened unprecedented sanctions against American defence companies.

Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said the planned weapons sales to self-governing Taiwan, which Beijing claims as its territory, were a “crude interference in China’s internal affairs” and would hurt its national security.