Chinese Ministry of National Defense spokesman Wu Qian on Tuesday slammed U.S. arms sales to the Taiwan region.
Wu made the comment in response to reports that the U.S. Government Accountability Office has accused domestic defense contractor Raytheon of fraud in selling expensive weapons to Taiwan, which procured the Patriot missile system in 2013 and radar systems in 2017 from the company. A public opinion representative from the Taiwan-based Kuomintang (KMT) party lashed out at U.S. arms dealers, likening their actions to a fraudulent scheme.
"We firmly oppose U.S. provision of weapons to China's Taiwan region. I'd like to point out that what the reports revealed is only a tip of the iceberg. Over the past few years, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) authorities have been doing everything possible to flatter the U.S. and repeatedly seeking to buy weapons from it. A great deal of the hard-earned money of people in Twain has been squandered, yet all they have received are pieces of junk that only benefited corrupted officials and arms dealers. It has led to growing opposition and dissatisfaction among locals," said the spokesman.
"'Sky-high prices' and 'obsolete functions' are two notorious hallmarks of U.S. arms sales to Taiwan. From moldy bulletproof vests to expired ammunition and overpriced missiles and radars, we can see that Americans only care about U.S. interests. 'Taiwan independence' is a dead end and outsiders cannot be trusted. The attempt to seek separation by relying on the U.S. support will only lead to self-destruction," Wu said.
Chinese defense ministry slams US arms sales to Taiwan region
