Beijing hits out at Donald Trump over defence spending bill and says it ‘interferes with China’s internal affairs’
- US President signs authorisation act that includes measures to shore up Taiwan relations and make it harder to lift Huawei sanctions
- Chinese side accuses law - which also includes provisions covering Xinjiang and Hong Kong - of being ‘biased’ and ‘ignoring facts’
China hit out at Donald Trump on Saturday for signing a new defence authorisation bill that includes measures to strengthen Washington’s ties with Taiwan and slow the lifting of sanctions on Huawei to be lifted.
You Wenze, a spokesman for the foreign affairs committee of the National People’s Congress, China’s parliament, described the measures as “blatant interference” in its internal affairs, according to state news agency Xinhua.
“The US side has ignored the repeated representations made by the Chinese side and included various negative clauses in the bill that touch upon Taiwan, Hong Kong and Xinjiang issues.
“These provisions totally ignore the facts and are full of biases... We hereby express our strong indignation and resolute objection.”
Long also urged the US to abandon its “cold war mentality and hegemonic logic” and adopt “effective measures” to correct its mistakes.
The protest by Long came a day after the US President had a telephone conversation with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in which they discussed an interim trade deal.
In its report on the phone call, Xinhua said Xi had agreed to “maintain regular communication” with Trump and was confident that China and the US could resolve their differences and keep ties on a steady course.