BEIJING, November 22. /TASS/. The United States emasculates and distorts the One China principle, supplies weapons to Taiwan, and sends high-ranking officials to the island, which exacerbates tensions in the Taiwan Strait, China’s Defense Minister Wei Fenghe, a member of the State Council, said at a meeting with the Pentagon’s chief Lloyd Austin on the sidelines of a meeting ASEAN defense ministers with dialogue partners in Cambodia.

"For a certain period of time, the United States has continuously emasculated, devastated and distorted the One China principle, repeatedly supplied weapons to Taiwan, provided assistance in training the Taiwanese military, and sent high-ranking officials to the island, which further exacerbated tensions in the Taiwan Strait," Chinese Defense Ministry spokesman Tan Kefei has quoted Wei as saying, the Chinese daily Huanqiu Shibao reports.

The meeting took place on the sidelines of the ASEAN Defense Ministers' Meeting (ADMM) and an expanded meeting with dialogue partners, being held in Siem Reap, Cambodia, on November 21-23.

The previous meeting of the Chinese and US defense ministers was held in Singapore in June on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue regional security forum. However, after the US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan in August relations between Beijing and Washington deteriorated sharply. The dialogue between the defense ministries was actually suspended.

Taiwan has been governed by its local administration since 1949, but according to the official stance, shared by most countries, including Russia, it is one of China’s provinces. Washington severed relations with Taipei in 1979 and established them with China. While recognizing the One China policy the United States continues to maintain relations with the Taipei administration and supply weapons to the island.