Beijing threatens US over Taiwan arms deal

Beijing has warned America that its US$6.4 billion arms deal with Taiwan could damage US-Chinese relations, the Times of London reported. Foreign minister Yang Jiechi said that Washington is ignoring China’s concerns over the weapons sales, and called for the US to “truly respect China’s core interests and major concerns, and immediately rescind the mistaken decision to sell arms to Taiwan, and stop selling arms to Taiwan to avoid damaging broader China-US relations." State-media also reported that if the US goes ahead with the arms sale – which Washington claims is part of its commitment to protect the island – the country should not expect Chinese cooperation on both regional and international issues. "If you don’t care about our interests, why should we care about yours?” the China Daily wrote in an editorial.