Beijing denounces newly approved sale of U.S. drones to Taiwan

One week after Pentagon and Chinese military leaders held a summit to discuss crisis communications, Beijing sharply opposed a newly approved sale of U.S. drones to Taiwan.

"Those who play with fire will get burned," said Senior Colonel Wu Qian, spokesperson for China's Ministry of National Defense, in a Nov. 4 press statement. 

Wu made his comments in response to reports that the United States last week approved the proposed $600 million sale of four MQ-9 Reaper drones to Taiwan. The drones are highly capable, according to the U.S. Air Force, and can be used for surveillance, combat search and rescue, precision strikes, and other tasks. The unmanned aircraft can loiter for long periods of time, and can hit fleeting and time-sensitive targets.

The Chinese defense ministry's Wu did not specify who potentially would "get burned" by the newly announced sale of the drones, but he directed some of his comments to the United States.

"The move by the US side significantly damages relations between the two countries and the two militaries, endangers peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait," Wu said. "China firmly opposes and strongly condemns it."

Beijing views the island of Taiwan as belonging to the mainland, under the so-called "one-China principle." The island long has been autonomous, and calls itself the Republic of China, independent from its communist neighbor, the People's Republic of China. Taiwan obtains most of its weapons from the United States — an arrangement that rankles Beijing.

In his comments, Wu in a lengthy statement offered both objection and advice regarding the sale of the Reaper drones and arms sales overall to Taiwan.

"China urges the US side to fully understand the greatly hazardous nature of selling weapons to Taiwan, immediately cancel all its plans of arms sales to Taiwan, stop selling weapons to the island and cease U.S.-Taiwan military contact and handle Taiwan-related issues prudently and properly, so as not to cause any immeasurable serious consequences to Sino-American bilateral and mil-to-mil relations, as well as to the peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait," Wu said.

Last week, following a two-day video summit between U.S. and Chinese defense leaders, Wu seemed more conciliatory.

"The U.S. side does not have the intention to create a military crisis and is willing to build stable, constructive, results-oriented ties with the Chinese side," Wu said after the Oct. 28-29 summit. 

In those comments, Wu sought to dispel rumors that the Pentagon planned to launch a drone attack on islands in the South China Sea. The rumors emerged on Chinese state media in September, in response to American military uniform patches that were worn for a California exercise. The patches for the annual Agile Reaper exercise featured a drone superimposed over an outline of China.