China says US military aid bill for Taiwan 'sends wrong signal ---Taiwan News

China's Taiwan Affairs Office urges US to stop providing arms to Taiwan TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — China's Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) on Wednesday (April 24) condemned a U.S. military aid package for Taiwan as “sending a wrong signal” to what it alleged are Taiwanese “separatist forces." At a press conference that day, TAO spokesperson Zhu Fenglian (朱鳳蓮) was asked by a reporter to comment on the passage of a US$95.34 billion (NT$3.1 trillion) foreign aid bill. Zhu responded by saying that the “Taiwan question is purely China's internal affair and it does not tolerate any external interference.” Zhu said that the Taiwan-related content in the bill “seriously violates” the one-China principle and the provisions of the China-U.S. joint communiques. “It sends a wrong signal to the ‘Taiwan independence’ separatist forces. We firmly oppose it,” said Zhu. The spokesperson said that Beijing urges Washington to "fulfill its commitment not to support Taiwan independence with concrete actions and stop arming Taiwan in any way.” Zhu said that Taiwan wants peace rather than war, development rather than recession, exchanges rather than separation, and cooperation rather than confrontation. “These are the mainstream public opinions in Taiwan,” claimed Zhu. The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) leaders ignore public opinion and are willing to become pawns for external forces to “use Taiwan to contain China” bringing Taiwan into a “dangerous situation,” said Zhu. She warned DPP officials that any attempt to "use force to seek independence" or "rely on external forces to seek independence" is doomed to failure. U.S. President Joe Biden on Wednesday signed the foreign aid bill into law, which includes military aid for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan, and a provision calling for China's divestiture from TikTok. The president said the bill included “support to strengthen even further our allies and partners in the Indo-Pacific region.” With the passage of the legislation, Taiwan and Indo-Pacific countries are set to receive US$8.12 billion. Of that, US$2 billion is earmarked for a Foreign Military Financing (FMF) program for Taiwan and other U.S. allies and partners in the Indo-Pacific region. Another US$1.9 billion will be allocated to replenish defense articles and services supplied to Taiwan and other regional U.S. partners. The rest of the funds will be directed at strengthening the U.S. military presence in the region. This includes US$3.3 billion to build submarine infrastructure, US$542 million to bolster U.S. military capabilities, and US$133 million to augment the development of artillery and vital munitions.

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