China's top diplomat blasts US arms sale to Taiwan as military drills around the island unfold

BEIJING (AP) — China’s foreign minister on Tuesday slammed a record U.S. arms sale to Taiwan as Beijing conducted the second day of military drills around the island it has long claimed as its own.

Wang Yi, the most senior Chinese official to comment on the sales so far, also blasted the “pro-independence forces in Taiwan” and Japan’s leaders during an end-of-the-year diplomatic event in Beijing.

“In response to the continuous provocations by pro-independence forces in Taiwan and the large-scale U.S. arms sales to Taiwan, we must resolutely oppose and strongly counter them,” Wang said while reviewing a year of diplomacy by Asia’s largest and most influential nation.

He reiterated China’s aim for a “complete reunification” with Taiwan, a self-ruled island that split from China during a civil war in 1949 and evolved into a multiparty democracy.

Taiwan’s government argues the island was never part of China in its current form under the Communist Party and Beijing’s sovereignty claims are illegitimate.

Military package rankles China

The package valued at more than $11 billion that was announced earlier this month by the U.S. State Department amounts to the largest U.S. arms sale to Taiwan. It includes missiles, drones, artillery systems and military software.

The U.S. is obligated by its own laws to provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself. President Donald Trump has ramped up pressure on the self-ruled island to buy more U.S. military equipment, even suggesting Taiwan should spend up to 10% of its GDP on defense.

China responded to the sale by launching two days of military drills around Taiwan on Monday. The exercises also are largely seen as a rebuke to Sanae Takaichi, the new Japanese prime minister, who inflamed Beijing last month by implying Japan could militarily intervene over Taiwan.

“Japan, which launched the war of aggression against China, not only fails to deeply reflect on the numerous crimes it committed, but its current leaders also openly challenge China’s territorial sovereignty, the historical conclusions of World War II and the postwar international order,” Wang said, adding that China “must be highly vigilant against the resurgence of Japanese militarism.”

Other diplomatic initiatives reviewed

In his speech reviewing China's diplomatic highlights for the year, Wang also mentioned Israel’s war in Gaza, welcoming international efforts to facilitate a ceasefire but insisting that more needs to be done.

“The world still owes Palestine justice,” Wang said. “The Palestinian question cannot be marginalized again, and the Palestinian people’s cause for democratic and legitimate rights cannot end in vain.”

China maintains strong relations with Israel and the Palestinian Authority and backs the two-state solution, under which Israel and Palestine would exist as independent states.

Wang also emphasized China’s aim to facilitate a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine. Beijing says it is impartial in the war but in practice signals support for Moscow through frequent state visits and joint military drills.

Wang mediated talks between top diplomats from Thailand and Cambodia earlier this week, which the leaders said helped consolidate a ceasefire between the two neighbors after months of fighting.

The meetings represented China’s latest efforts to strengthen its role as an international mediator and particularly its influence in Asian regional crises. As China grows into an economic and political force globally, Beijing has spent the past decade and more working in various ways to increase its voice as a third party in diplomatic matters.