The Chinese government announced on Wednesday the suspension of negotiations with the United States on nuclear non-proliferation and arms control in response to the sale of weapons to Taiwan by the US authorities, following the round of contacts held in November 2023 to try to reduce bilateral tensions.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said Washington “ignores China’s firm opposition and repeated complaints and continues to sell arms to Taiwan,” adding that these “negative actions” cause “serious damage” to the interests of the Asian giant.
China claims that these arms sales “undermine mutual trust between the parties” and “seriously damage the political climate” between the two countries, and has therefore announced that Beijing “has decided to suspend negotiations with the United States on arms control and non-proliferation.”
“The responsibility for this situation lies entirely with the United States,” he said, before expressing China’s willingness to “maintain communication” with Washington in this regard, “based on mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and mutually beneficial cooperation.”
In this regard, Lin stressed that, to achieve this, “the United States must respect China’s core interests and create the necessary conditions for dialogue and exchanges between the two parties,” according to the Chinese state television channel, CCTV.
The announcement comes just days after Beijing imposed a package of sanctions against US military companies for selling weapons to Taiwan, amid tensions with the island, especially following the inauguration of Lai Ching Te as the new Taiwanese president.
In this context, tensions surrounding Taiwan, which ‘de facto’ functions as an ‘independent territory’ despite Beijing’s claims of sovereignty, have also increased between the United States and China, which maintains that both countries agreed to maintain the ‘one China’ policy.
Source: With information from EUROPA PRESS