BEIJING, Oct. 24 (Xinhua) -- Washington's recent approval of a new sales package of weapons to China's Taiwan province is a highly dangerous move that will further rock the already challenged U.S.-China relations and endanger peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.

The Taiwan question is the most sensitive issue in the China-U.S. relationship, whose political foundation rests on the one-China principle. The U.S. arms sales to Taiwan have severely violated the one-China principle and the three China-U.S. joint communiques, particularly the August 17 Communique, seriously interfered in China's internal affairs, and undermined the country's sovereignty and security interests.

Playing the "Taiwan card" has been one of Washington's old tricks to disrupt China's development. In recent years, the United States has rolled out a number of Taiwan-related legislations, and continued selling weapons to the Chinese island.

In recent months, some Washington politicians, out of pure political purposes, have made various moves that jeopardize China's interests, and harm the relationship between the two sides. As a result, the relationship between the world's top two economies is facing perhaps the most complex situation since the normalization of their ties. The latest politically-driven arms sales plan to Taiwan is simply adding fuel to the fire.

According to The New York Times, the arms sales were proposed at a time when Washington wanted to "be tough on China" and was eager to divert the public's focus away from the present government's "vast failures on the coronavirus pandemic and the economy."

Those self-serving Washington politicians have no love for Taiwan at all. While pretending to care about the island, they only treat the "Taiwan independence" forces as political pawns to make trouble for China's cause of national unification, and to pursue hegemony in the Asia-Pacific region.

Meanwhile, they also act as salesmen to midwife arms sales contracts for America's military industrial complex. The people in Taiwan are the ones that pay the bills.

Hung Hsiu-chu, former chairperson of the Chinese Kuomintang party, has recently said that the United States can maximize its strategic benefits and minimize the costs by enhancing Taiwan's strategic position and tactical capabilities, but for Taiwan, Washington's acts may be an unbearable burden.

The U.S. arms sales to Taiwan have dangerously emboldened those "Taiwan separatists," and are stoking tensions across the Taiwan Strait, risking pushing the region into destructive confrontation.

Those in Taiwan who believe they can count on external intervention to separate the island from China should wake up. Their attempts have no chance to succeed in the face of Beijing's steadfast determination to unify the country and will only bring about grave suffering to the people in Taiwan.

The United States should drop its brinkmanship policy on issues regarding Taiwan, and stop interfering in China's internal affairs. If Washington continues to ignore the basic norms of international relations and betray its commitments, its arrogance will be met with China's resolute countermeasures. Enditem

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