BEIJING July 30. 2023 (Saba) - China has accused the United States of turning Taiwan into an "ammunition depot", after the White House announced a $345 million military aid package for Taipei.
The Associated Press quoted the Taiwanese Ministry of National Defense on Sunday as saying that it had tracked six Chinese navy ships in the waters off its shores.
China's Taiwan Affairs Office issued a statement earlier that it opposes military assistance to Taiwan, which China claims as its territory.
"No matter how much taxpayer money of ordinary people is spent by Taiwan separatist forces, and no matter how many US weapons, it will not shake our resolve to solve the Taiwan problem, nor will it shake our firm will to achieve reunification our motherland," said Chen Bin Hua, spokesman for the Taiwan Affairs Office. "
"Their actions turn Taiwan into a powder keg and an ammunition depot, which exacerbates the risk of war in the Taiwan Strait," he added.
In recent years, the Chinese People's Liberation Army has increased its military exercises targeting Taiwan, sending fighter jets and warships to circle the island.
The ruling administration in Taiwan, led by the Democratic Progressive Party, intensified its purchases of weapons from the United States as part of the deterrence strategy against the Chinese invasion.
Unlike previous military purchases, the latest batch of aid is part of a presidential authorization approved by the US Congress last year to withdraw weapons from existing US military stockpiles, so Taiwan wouldn't have to wait for military production and sales while Taiwan bought $19 billion worth of weapons, much of it is yet to be handed over to the island.
Washington is due to send man-portable air defense systems, intelligence capabilities, surveillance capabilities, firearms and missiles to Taiwan.
China and Taiwan were divided amid a civil war in 1949. Taiwan has never been ruled by China's ruling Communist Party.
H.H
resource : Saba
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