A senior Chinese official has warned of greater consequences if the U.S. continues to sell arms to Taiwan, the New York Times reports:
The official, Huang Xueping, a spokesman for the Ministry of National Defense, warned the United States to “speak and act cautiously” if it wanted to avoid further damage to bilateral ties, according to Xinhua, the state news agency. Mr. Huang said that earlier threats to suspend military cooperation and exchanges between the countries “remain unchanged,” but he did not elaborate on what such sanctions would entail.
In previous statements, the Chinese government has said that it would cancel visits between top military leaders and retaliate against American companies engaged in weapon sales to Taiwan.
In recent weeks, Chinese officials and editorials in the state-controlled media have been fulminating over the Pentagon’s $6.4 billion arms package to Taiwan, which would include Black Hawk helicopters, communications equipment and 114 Patriot missiles. Earlier this month a group of high-ranking military officers urged China to dump some of its holdings in United States Treasuries.
