Washington, February 25: The Pentagon says that Beijing has put off several high-profile military exchanges with Washington over the US military’s 6.4-billion-dollar arms deal with Taiwan.
China “has postponed planned exchanges such as their chief of the general staff’s visit to the United States, the commander of US Pacific Command’s visit to China, and a visit to the US by one of China’s military region commanders,” Major Maureen Schumann, a Pentagon spokesman, AFP reported on Wednesday.
The move comes a month after Washington approved the significant arms package for Taiwan. China reacted by announcing that it would suspend its military ties with the US.
However, said Schumann said that “nothing has been formally canceled…It’s still early to speculate on any additional effects on mil-to-mil engagements.”
Beijing also threatened sanctions against American companies that were involved in the weapons sales to Taiwan.
Wang Xinjun, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Military Sciences, a top institute of the People’s Liberation Army, said that “although China-US military ties are experiencing difficulties, and a breakthrough seems hard to find, we have reason to have confidence in the future of those ties.”
China said the dispute would damage cooperation with the United States over international issues.
——–Agencies