China on Wednesday denounced new US military aid for Taiwan that’s included in a massive $95 billion foreign aid bill President Biden has signed into law, warning that it will make a conflict more likely.
“I would like to stress that getting closer militarily between the United States and the Taiwan region will not make the latter safer or save ‘Taiwan independence’ from doom. It will only heighten tensions and the risk of conflict and confrontation in the Taiwan Strait, and will eventually backfire,” said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin.
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office also condemned the new US aid for Taiwan. “It sends a wrong signal to the Taiwan separatist forces. We urge the US side to fulfill its commitment not to support Taiwan independence with concrete actions and stop arming Taiwan in any way,” said Taiwan Affairs Office spokeswoman Zhu Fenglian.
In Taiwan, Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen said she was “very happy” that Congress passed the legislation. Taiwanese President-Elect William Lai, the current vice president, also celebrated the bills.
Zhu blasted Tsai and Lai’s Democratic Progressive Party, saying it’s willing to “become a pawn for external forces to use Taiwan to contain China, bringing Taiwan into a dangerous situation.”
Over $8 billion of the $95 billion bill is allocated for Taiwan and other spending to prepare for a future war with China in the Indo-Pacific region. It includes $1.9 billion to replenish weapons sent to Taiwan and regional countries and $2 billion in Foreign Military Financing, a State Department program that gives foreign governments money to purchase US weapons. Over $3.3 billion will go toward submarine infrastructure in the region.
The US has sold weapons to Taiwan since severing diplomatic relations with Taipei in 1979 but never funded military aid for the island until last year, a step that was highly provocative toward Beijing. China has repeatedly warned the US against its steps to increase military and diplomatic support for Taiwan, which it calls the “first red line that must not be crossed” in US-China relations.
