China says U.S./Taiwan -- 2 (calls for U.S. to revoke weapons sale decision)
She said the U.S. had made a "serious mistake" in deciding to sell weapons to Taiwan, and called on the U.S. to stop interfering in China's internal affairs and revoke its decision. She said the U.S. action had escalated tensions across the Taiwan Straits and would encourage Taiwan's independence forces. The only way to stabilise and develop cross-Straits relations would be for the Taiwanese authorities to accept the one-China principle. "The earlier the authorities accept this, the better it will be to relations across the Taiwan Straits. Any efforts to confront China's reunification (will) only (be) doomed," Zhang added. Zhang reiterated China's territorial claim over Taiwan and insisted no action by the U.S. would prevent the island from being reunited with the Chinese mainland, by force if necessary. "Taiwan is not a protectorate of any foreign country," she said, calling Bush's comments "erroneous". "The Chinese people have the determination to defend the country's territorial integrity and sovereignty ... No people should miscalculate that," Zhang said. She said the weapons sale would affect cooperation between China and the U.S. on the issue of non-proliferation, but she would not be more specific on which areas would be affected. Neither would she comment on any concrete measures China might take against the U.S. in response to the arms sale, although she said China "reserved the right to make further responses". Zhang would not comment on whether China saw a shift in U.S. policy following remarks by Bush that the U.S. would defend Taiwan, but said that relations between the two countries at the moment were at a "sensitive and complicated" stage.
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