A soldier looks through binoculars during combat exercises and training of the navy of the Eastern Theater Command of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) in the waters around the Taiwan Island, Aug. 5, 2022. The Eastern Theater Command on Friday continued joint combat exercises and training in the waters and airspace around the Taiwan Island. (Photo by Lin Jian/Xinhua News Agency)

China vows to take firm countermeasures against the US's latest approval of $1.1 billion in arms sales to the island of Taiwan, the largest since US President Joe Biden took office, and China has long urged the US to halt arms sales and military interactions with the island, including the mega-deal this time, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said on Monday.

The Biden administration formally notified Congress on September 2 of its intent to sell the island of Taiwan $1.1 billion worth of arms, the Washington Post reported. The arms sales include 60 Harpoon anti-ship missiles, 100 Sidewinder air-to-air missiles, and support for a surveillance radar system.

The US' fifth and largest arms sale this year to the island could later be approved by Congress, and it is also the largest arms sales to the island so far under the Biden administration, according to the report.

"The arms deal between the US and the island of Taiwan is a blatant violation of the one-China principle and the three China-US joint communiqués. It also infringes on China's sovereignty and territorial integrity and sends a seriously wrong signal to the 'Taiwan independence' forces," Mao Ning, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson, said on Monday, noting that China will take firm countermeasures to safeguard its sovereignty and security interests.

What the US had done has seriously undermined China's sovereignty and security interests, as well as China-US relations and stability across the Taiwan Straits, she continued.

The August 17 Communiqué, the Shanghai Communiqué and the Joint Communiqué on the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations between China and the US constitute the political foundation for China-US relations and are all based on the one-China principle, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson earlier stated. The US government also stated that "it does not seek to carry out a long-term policy of arms sales to the island."

Mao said that the US has repeatedly trampled on international law and basic norms in international relations, which is against the US leader's commitment that does not support "Taiwan independence."

The US bears inescapable responsibility for the increasing tension emerging in the Taiwan Straits, as the US has continuously distorted and hollowed out the one-China principle and connived at the "Taiwan independence" forces, the spokesperson added.

"Taiwan is China's Taiwan, the Taiwan question tolerates no external interference, and China's complete reunification is a process that cannot be halted," Mao said.

Global Times