Consul General Chen Shijie has recently published a signed article on New Zealand Herald, entitled “U.S. Arms Sales to Taiwan:Playing with Fire Will Get Itself Burned”. 

Chen pointed out that the United States’ announcement of a large-scale arms sales plan to China’s Taiwan region seriously violates the one-China principle and the three China–U.S. Joint Communiqués, particularly the “August 17 Communiqué”; gravely infringes upon China’s sovereignty, security, and territorial integrity; severely undermines peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait; and sends a dangerously wrong signal to “Taiwan independence” separatist forces.

Chen stressed that the Taiwan question concerns China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and lies at the very core of China’s core interests. Keeping one’s word and matching deeds with words are responsibilities that a country should uphold. To continue playing double standards on the Taiwan question and wielding the card of arms sales to Taiwan is like playing with fire while carrying firewood: as long as the firewood is not exhausted, the fire will not die out. If the U.S. persists in its misguided course, it will only further erode China–U.S. mutual trust, undermine regional peace, and ultimately impose greater costs on itself.