Chen Binhua, a spokesperson for the State Council's Taiwan Affairs Office Photo:VCG

The State Council's Taiwan Affairs Office and the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) on Wednesday joined ranks to slam the US' signing into law the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2025 that contains negative content related to China, following the Chinese Foreign Ministry's serious protests on Tuesday.

Chen Binhua, a spokesperson for the State Council's Taiwan Affairs Office, said at a regular press conference on Wednesday that Taiwan is China's Taiwan, and that the Taiwan question is purely China's internal affairs that will not tolerate any external interference.

Chen stated that the US side insisted on inserting negative content related to Taiwan into the NDAA for Fiscal Year 2025 in an attempt to further arm Taiwan and add fuel to the fire in the Taiwan Straits, which grossly interferes in China's internal affairs, seriously violates the one-China principle and the provisions of the three China-US joint communiqués, sends a seriously wrong signal to "Taiwan independence" separatist forces, and causes serious damage to peace and stability in the Taiwan Straits. We express our strong dissatisfaction and resolute opposition to this, he noted.

We urge the US to earnestly abide by the solemn political commitments it made to China on the Taiwan question, to reflect its statement of not supporting "Taiwan independence" in concrete actions, and to immediately stop arming Taiwan. We warn the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) authorities that no matter how they collude with external forces or buy more US weapons, they cannot stop the historical trend of China's reunification. If they dare to take risks, they will surely bring about their own destruction, the spokesperson said.

Xu Dong, spokesperson for the Foreign Affairs Committee of the NPC, also responded to the US signing the NDAA for Fiscal Year 2025 on Wednesday.

He said that the negative provisions related to China in this Act continue to hype the "China threat," incite military support for the island of Taiwan, suppress China's technological and economic development, restrict China-US economic and trade exchanges as well as cultural interactions, and grossly interfere in China's internal affairs, undermining China's sovereignty, security and development interests. China expresses strong dissatisfaction and resolute opposition to this, he emphasized. 

It is inevitable that China and the US, two major countries, have some differences and disagreements, but they should not undermine each other's core interests, still less engage in conflict and confrontation. Issues such as the Taiwan question, democracy and human rights, governance systems, and development rights are red lines for China that cannot be challenged. We strongly urge the US to abandon Cold War mentality and ideological biases, refrain from implementing the negative provisions related to China, and avoid making further mistakes on issues concerning China's sovereignty and core interests, Xu said.

Chinese military expert Song Zhongping told the Global Times that US military spending is about to reach $900 billion annually, and it is still seeking more by hyping the "China military threat" to build its own global hegemony. This is by no means conducive to peace and stability in the region and the world.

The NDAA incites an arms race and risks military conflict, and this in return could harm the US' own national security. The US should better focus on domestic security rather than hegemony, and save the military expenditure and use the money to improve livelihoods, Song said.