Senior China, U.S. diplomats to discuss Taiwan, trade

Beijing is to again raise the critical foreign-relation issue of US’ intending to sell arms to Taiwan when high-ranking officials from the two countries sit for talks today.

China’s Vice Foreign Minister Cui Tiankai told reporters Monday that he will express China's strong displeasure about the planned U.S. weapons sales to Taiwan when he meets U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Kurt Campbell.

"The United States has time and again sold weapons to Taiwan. So, of course, we will have to express our stern opposition," Cui said.

Beijing believes that its ties with Taiwan across the Taiwan Strait have been improving considerably in the past seven years, marked by rapidly increasing trade of goods and personnel exchanges. And, Washington’s stubbornness in selling high-tech weaponry to the island has jeopardized Beijing’s efforts to achieve a peaceful reunification of China.

Cui also warned against a proposed U.S. Senate law to punish countries, such as China, with "undervalued currencies."

"By putting these issues on the table tomorrow, we hope to better address these issues and prevent them from excessively interfering in the normal development of China-US relations," Cui said.

China’s Foreign Ministry and Defense Ministry have emphasized that last month's U.S. announcement of a US$5.85 billion arms package for Taiwan would seriously hurt relations, and that Beijing will decide to suspend some military-to-military contacts with the Pentagon in response.

Cui also said that a proposed US Senate bill targeted at China's so-call "currency manipulation" could result in an economically devastating and politically chilling trade war between the two countries.

US senators voted last week to open debate on a bill allowing the Obama government to impose additional duties on products from countries that it says subsidize exports by undervaluing their currencies.

"This bill in no way represents the reality of the economic and trade relationship between China and the United States and might have an adverse impact on the development of the commercial relationship," Cui said. "Should the proposed legislation become law, the only result would be a trade war between China and the United States, and that would be a lose-lose situation for both sides."

As for the South China Sea issue, Cui said it is not an issue between China and the United States, as the US is not a claimant of rights and interests in the area.

"If the US side is interested in our opinion, we will brief them on our stance during the consultation," Cui said.