China cancels military exchanges with US after Taiwan deal

BEIJING : A furious China said on Saturday it was suspending military exchanges with the United States protesting against Washington's move to sell $6.4 billion worth of arms to Taiwan. The issue can have wide ramifications on matters like trade, possible meeting between Barack Obama and the Dalai Lama and China's arms sales to countries such as Pakistan.

Chinese Vice-Foreign Minister He Yafei said the US decision was a \"rude interference in China\'s internal affairs, severely endangering China\'s national security\". The country's defense ministry said it will halt visits between the Chinese and U.S. armed forces \"in consideration of the serious harm and impacts on Sino-U.S. military relations\".

The choice of arms shows the Obama administration expects China to strike Taiwan sooner or later. It has offered to sell 114 Patriot anti-missile missiles and two mine-hunting ships besides 60 Black Hawk helicopters. But the package does not include F-16 jets, which Beijing had vehemently opposed.

China regards Taiwan as part its own territory and has threatened military action to recapture it in the past.

It is not clear if the People's Liberation Army will begin moving missile launchers to appropriate positions and make other moves to threaten an attack if Washington does not cancel the deal.

Beijing is fast emerging as a major supplier of arms to countries like Pakistan and is also talking in terms of setting up military bases in foreign locations. It also holds the key to the North Korean nuclear problem, which makes US allies-Japan and South Korea-extremely nervous. Beijing will find it difficult to justify its arms sales to Pakistan and its close relationship with rouge rulers in Myanmar and Sudan if it opposed US arms sales, a source said

The Obama administration may be using the arms sales ploy to put Beijing under pressure and divert its attention away from trouble spots like Afghanistan, Pakistan and North Korea, sources said.. There are reports suggesting that Obama might meet the Dalai Lama in the coming months. Such a meeting would give a further fillip to the Tibetan movement and put China under greater strain.

Washington's calculation seems to have worked as the Chinese foreign ministry has begun to resort to threats. It said it planned to slap sanctions on US companies that sell arms to Taiwan. It will also review all other areas of co-operation between the two countries.

Beijing is asking the US to cancel the deal. It might take some serious action to block the purchase of US goods and further hit the US economy at a time when the Obama administration is facing a political challenge caused by domestic unemployment, sources said.

Washington's decision will have a "serious negative impact on exchange and cooperation in major areas between the two countries, causing results that both sides do not want to see," He Yafei warned. \"China will make further judgments as appropriate,\" the official Xinhua news agency said.

There has been an improvement in the relationship between Beijing and Taipei since the government, believed to be pro-China, took over in Taiwan early last year. Taipei's decision to buy additional arms from the US will surely take the relationship in reverse gear.

Taiwan's defense ministry welcomed Friday's announcement. A defense spokesperson said the sale would give Taiwan "greater confidence in pushing for an amicable outcome in our relations with China.
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