North Korea says US arms aid to Taiwan pushing region to ‘another ignition point of war’
- Pyongyang called the US$345 million weapons package a ‘dangerous political and military provocation’
- It also accused Washington of trying to turn Taiwan into an ‘unsinkable advanced base against Beijing’
In a statement carried by the official KCNA news agency, Maeng Yong-rim, director general of the North Korean foreign ministry’s Chinese affairs department, said the plan is a “dangerous political and military provocation” and a “flagrant violation” of the one-China principle.
“It is the sinister intention of the US to turn Taiwan into an unsinkable advanced base against China and the first-line trench for carrying out its strategy for deterring China,” the North’s statement said.
China stokes tensions, opposition to US bases in Japan’s Okinawa
Beijing claims the democratically governed island as its own territory, and has repeatedly warned against any “official exchanges” between Washington and Taipei. Taipei rejects China’s sovereignty claims and says only Taiwan’s people can decide their future.
“The Asia-Pacific region, including the Korean peninsula and the Taiwan Strait, is neither a theatre of the US military activity nor a test site of war,” the statement said, warning that the US will have to “pay a high price” for “provoking the core interest of China”.
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China’s PLA sends dozens of warplanes near Taiwan as island holds annual Han Kuang military drills
China’s military has been flexing its muscles around the island, recently sending dozens of fighters, bombers and other aircraft, including drones, into the skies to Taiwan’s south, according to Taiwan’s defence ministry.
