US military aid, arms sales to mislead Taiwan into war: mainland spokesperson

BEIJING -- A Chinese mainland spokesperson on Thursday slammed US military aid and arms sales to China's Taiwan region, which reveal the "extremely malicious intention to mislead Taiwan into the flames of war."

"We firmly oppose any form of military collusion between the United States and China's Taiwan region," said Zhang Xiaogang, spokesperson for the Ministry of National Defense, at a press conference.

He made the remarks in response to a media query concerning a defense appropriation act recently approved by the US House Appropriations Committee, which includes a $500 million budget for military assistance to Taiwan.

Zhang urged the US side to abide by the one-China principle and the three China-US joint communiqués, and stop sending wrong signals to the "Taiwan independence" separatist forces.

He also responded to a query about Taiwan leader Lai Ching-te's expectations of Taiwan-US security cooperation to advance from military procurement to joint production and joint research and development.

"Lai and his ilk are constantly devising new ways to pay 'protection money' to their American 'masters,' recklessly squandering the hard-earned money of the people of Taiwan," Zhang said.

Any attempt to seek independence by relying on the United States or resist reunification by force is doomed to fail, the spokesperson warned.