China has canceled a series of military and diplomatic contacts with the United States in protest of a planned $6.5 billion package of weapons sales to Taiwan, U.S. officials told the Associated Press on Monday. Beijing has notified the United States that it will not proceed with several senior-level visits and other cooperative military-to-military plans, said Marine Major Stewart Upton, a Defense Department spokesman. “In response to Friday's announcement of Taiwan arms sales, the People's Republic of China canceled or postponed several upcoming military-to-military exchanges,” Upton said, complaining that “China's continued politicization of our military relationship results in missed opportunities.” The Chinese action will not affect Beijing's participation with the United States in six-country negotiations aimed at getting North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons or China's participation in the international effort on Iran's controversial nuclear program, U.S. officials said. But Beijing's action does include the cancellation of an upcoming U.S. visit by a senior Chinese general, other similar trips, several port calls by naval ships, and the indefinite postponement of meetings on stopping the spread of weapons of mass destruction, the officials said. “It's an unfortunate step,” State Department deputy spokesman Robert Wood told reporters. Beijing is angry with the U.S. decision to sell Taiwan the package of advanced weaponry and military items, including guided missiles and attack helicopters. China, which regards Taiwan as a renegade province, says the sale interferes with internal Chinese affairs and threatens its national security. China's Ambassador to the United States, Zhou Wenzhong, was expected Monday to register a protest about the weapons sale with the State Department. A Chinese embassy spokesman in Washington said it would be “only natural” for the ambassador to deliver the protest. Upton said the arms sale does not represent a change in U.S. policy and that Washington is only upholding the provisions of the Taiwan Relations Act, under which the United States makes available items necessary for Taiwan to maintain a sufficient level of self defense.
