BEIJING, July 30. /TASS/. Arms supplies by foreign states to the Taiwan island’s administration will not stop the historical trend towards China's reunification, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian has told a news briefing.
"Regardless of the amount of weapons the Lai Ching-te administration may purchase, it will not be able to buy security. No matter how much it strengthens the so-called national self-defense capability, it will be unable to stop the historical trend toward China's inevitable reunification," Lin stressed.
The US severed diplomatic relations with Taiwan in 1979 and established them with the PRC. While professing commitment to the One China policy, Washington at the same time continues to maintain contacts with the Taipei administration. The US is Taiwan's main arms supplier. The Chinese Foreign Ministry estimates that the total amount of US military supplies to the island has exceeded $70 billion over several years.
Taiwan has been governed by its own administration since 1949, when the remnants of the Kuomintang forces led by Chiang Kai-shek (1887-1975) fled there after being defeated in the Chinese Civil War. Since then, the island has retained the flag and some other attributes of the former Republic of China that had existed on the mainland before the Communists came to power. Beijing considers Taiwan to be one of the PRC's provinces.