BEIJING (TIP): A Chinese defense ministry spokesman on April 9 told the United Stated to stop selling arms to Taiwan and respect China‘s “core interests”. The demand came a day after visiting US defence chief Chuck Hagel was questioned at a local university and Chinese officials warned him against taking sides with Japan.

“We firmly oppose US sales of advanced weapons to Taiwan. The stance is clear, firm and consistent,” Chinese government spokesman Geng Yansheng said while discussing the passage of a Taiwan-related bill in the US house of representatives. The US bill called on the Obama administration to sell Perry-class frigates to Taiwan besides reaffirming the importance of the “Taiwan Relations Act”.

Sources said China thinks the arms sales to Taiwan violate the three China-US joint communiques under which the US agreed to gradually reduce its arms sales to Taiwan. Arms sales to Taiwan will disturb the major power relations being forged by China and the US, Geng warned. Geng admitted that US arms sales to Taiwan would seriously disturb the development of bilateral military relations and cross-strait ties between mainland China and Taiwan.

China considers Taiwan as part of its territory. During his speech at the National Defense University on Tuesday, a person in the audience told Hagel that the US was stirring up trouble in the East and South China Sea because it feared someday “China will be too big a challenge for the United States to cope with”.