China says it ‘deplores’ US military transfer to Taiwan

China is lashing out at the Biden administration’s approval of the first-ever U.S. military transfer to Taiwan using a program usually saved for sovereign nations. 

Beijing, which views Taipei as its own territory and has repeatedly threatened to bring it under its control using force, on Thursday claimed the U.S. transfer “severely violates the one-China principle.” 

“This severely violates the one-China principle and the stipulations of the three China-U.S. joint communiques,” China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said at a news conference in Beijing. “China deplores and firmly opposes it.” 

The State Department on Tuesday notified Congress it would sell Taiwan an $80 million package as part of the department’s foreign military financing (FMF) program, which uses U.S. taxpayer dollars to fund the supply of materials to foreign countries. The package is meant to “strengthen Taiwan’s self-defense capabilities,” according to the agency.  

This marks the first time the U.S. has provided military assistance under FMF to Taiwan and the second time it’s given it to a non-nation-state, the first being to the African Union. 

Washington has previously sold Taiwan weapons under its Foreign Military Sale program, which doesn’t imply statehood, though U.S. officials said this new method of weapons transfer does not mean a change in policy. 

But China, which in the past has strongly protested any and all U.S. defense aid to the independently governed island, on Thursday urged Washington to “stop creating tensions across the Taiwan Strait” by “enhancing U.S.-Taiwan military connections and arming Taiwan,” according to Wenbin. 

It’s unknown what exact weapons and equipment will be in the military package, but it could include air and coastal defense systems, armed vehicles, ballistic missile and cyber defenses, ammunition or even training support for Taiwanese military forces. 

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Lawmakers applauded the package, including Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), who called the move a “meaningful contribution” on the part of the administration.  

“In the face of increasingly aggressive People’s Republic of China military actions in the [Taiwan Strait], the United States must move quickly to provide support for Taiwan’s defense,” Menendez said in a statement.  

And Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), the chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said the weapons to Taiwan will help the island “protect other democracies in the region” and “strengthen the U.S. deterrence posture and ensure our national security from an increasingly aggressive [Chinese Communist Party].”