BEIJING, Jan. 12 (UPI) -- China criticized U.S. approval of a plan to sell Patriot III missiles to Taiwan, while noting the plan was part of a deal approved by the Bush administration.
In a lengthy article Monday, the official Chinese news agency said although the Obama administration's approval of the sale of the missiles by Lockheed Corp. merely implements an agreement announced by the previous administration, the action only helped tarnish Sino-U.S. relations.
The Xinhua report said the United States is "fully aware that the Taiwan issue is related to China's sovereignty and territorial integrity, and involves China's core interests and the national sentiment of 1.3 billion Chinese people."
The report said the arms sales to Taiwan "fully justified any suspicion about the United States' sincerity to take concrete actions to 'respect each other's core interests.'"
The article said the United States should immediately stop arms sales to Taiwan "in order to avoid damaging bilateral cooperation in key fields."
