WASHINGTON — China responded sternly on Thursday to the visit of a US congressional delegation to Taiwan, demanding that the US cease all official contact with the self-governing island.
“China opposes any form of official interaction between US and Taiwanese authorities and rejects US interference in Taiwanese affairs in any form or under any pretext,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said. She urged Washington to “be aware of the extreme complexity and sensitivity” of the Taiwan issue.
Mao spoke shortly after leaders of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party met Taiwanese leaders during a high-profile trip to express U.S. support for the island’s democratically elected government.
The conference visit provoked a stronger reaction than usual. Beijing has long protested any official interaction between the US and Taiwan, but is particularly dissatisfied with the House of Representatives committee, which was established in 2023 and is known for its hawkish views on China’s ruling party.
However, it is unlikely that the visit will lead to major military actions, as then Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi did in the summer of 2022. Beijing and Washington are trying to stabilize their rocky ties after a November meeting between US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping. .
The congressional visit coincided with the U.S. State Department’s announcement of a $75 million arms sale to Taiwan. The sale is relatively small in size and does not include weapons. Instead, it includes communications and global positioning systems, as well as related technology.
Mao criticized the sale as “undermining Chinese sovereignty and security interests and harming China-US relations and peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.”
The US is required under a 1979 law to provide Taiwan with sufficient military hardware and technology to deter invasion, and arms sales to Taiwan have always been strongly opposed by Beijing, which considers the island part of Chinese territory and promises to take it. if necessary by force.
Taiwan is also part of the $95 billion aid package that passed the Senate this month but has stalled in the House of Representatives. That package, which targeted Ukraine and Israel, included $1.9 billion to supplement U.S. weapons supplied to Taiwan. Another $3.3 billion would go toward building more U.S.-made submarines to support a security partnership with Australia and Britain.
In Taiwan, Representative Mike Gallagher, the Republican chairman of the select committee, and Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi, the ranking Democratic ranking member, proposed ways to accelerate the delivery of military weapons to Taiwan, including the joint production of certain weapons that do not have intellectual property rights. is needed. according to a report by Central News Agency, the island’s main wire service.
The delegation met with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen as well as newly elected President Lai Ching-te. Lai, who won a three-way race in January and will take office in May.
“Today we come as Democrats and Republicans to express our bipartisan support for this partnership, which, thanks to your leadership, I believe is stronger and more solid than ever,” Gallagher said during the meeting with Tsai.
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AP Diplomatic Writer Matthew Lee contributed to this report