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| Tuesday, 6 April 2004 |
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US arms sales fan Taiwan separatism, says China BEIJING, Monday (Reuters) An official Chinese newspaper accused the United States on Monday of fanning pro-independence sentiment in Taiwan by arming the self-ruled island that Beijing considers a wayward province that must be returned to the fold. Washington last week announced plans to sell long-range early-warning radar worth up to $1.78 billion to Taiwan, which Beijing has threatened to attack if the island of 23 million formally declares independence. "The Taiwan authorities' fantasy of independence would not have run so rampant without U.S. connivance," the China Daily said in a commentary under the headline "United States can't be trusted on Taiwan". "By sending wrong signals to the island's pro-independence forces, the U.S. move will only jeopardise China's peaceful reunification and the political foundation of Sino-U.S. relations," the English-language daily said. The sale was a serious affront to China's sovereignty and a blatant violation of a 1982 Sino-U.S. communique in which Washington pledged to reduce arms sales to Taiwan, it said. Washington switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979 and acknowledges China's claim to Taiwan, but remains the island's main arms supplier and trading partner. "Washington eats its words and loses credibility by trying to balance its two-faced stance towards Taiwan," the newspaper said, adding that "no amount of mealy-mouthed rhetoric can disguise" the U.S. objective of cementing interests in the Asia-Pacific at the expense of China and Taiwan. |
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