China opposes US defense bill provision

China’s national defense ministry said on Friday that the country retains its right to take further steps in response to the US adoption of an annual defense policy bill, which included provisions on the US conducting yearly high-level military exchanges with Taiwan for the first time.

China’s defense ministry spokesman Yang Yujun told a press briefing on Friday that the US, regardless of the overall situation of the Sino-US relations, passed the 2017 defense policy bill and the Chinese defense ministry firmly opposes it.

“The Taiwan question, which relates to China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, involves China’s core interests … China firmly opposes any kind of military exchanges between Taiwan and the US and the sales of weapons to Taiwan … What the US Congress has done has interfered with China’s domestic affairs, undermined the cross-Straits stability, infringed upon China’s sovereignty and security, and would finally harm the interests of the US,” Yang said.

The US Senate overwhelmingly passed a compromise version of an annual defense policy bill on Thursday, which recommends that the US conduct yearly high-level military exchanges with Taiwan, Reuters reported.

China urges the US side to correct their mistakes and China retains the right to take further action, said Yang, stressing that the pro-independence groups’ conspiracy of using foreign forces to sabotage China’s sovereignty and integrity is doomed to fail.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang, speaking at a daily briefing on Friday, urged the US to act with prudence in handling the Taiwan question and refrain from “pushing back against history.”

Ninety-two senators backed the $618.7 billion National Defense Authorization Act and seven opposed it. Because it was passed in the House of Representatives by a similarly large margin last week, the bill now goes to the White House for President Barack Obama to veto or sign into law, according to Reuters.