The Obama administration formally notified the Congress on Wednesday that it plans to upgrade Taiwan's aging F-16 fighter jets, requested by Taiwan in November 2009, and despite repeated opposition from China.

The upgrade package is a despicable breach of faith in international relations, only to gravely enrage China, as it is nothing but a blunt interference in China’s internal affairs.

Moreover, Washington’s offer of 5.3 billion dollar. arms sale, which harms China’s core interests, will damage China-U.S. military and security cooperation, and will only end up hurting the United States' own interest.

Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Zhijun voiced China's "strong indignation and resolute opposition" to the sale of F-16 fighter upgrades and other military equipment when he called in U.S. Ambassador to Beijing, Gary Locke, the ministry's website reported.

"No matter what the excuses and reasons, there can be no hiding that United States' announcement of plans to sell arms to Taiwan is grave interference in China's domestic affairs and sends a gravely mistaken signal to pro-Taiwan independence separatist forces," said Zhang.

"It must be pointed out that this wrongful course by the US side will unavoidably damage Sino-American relations and cooperation and exchanges in the military, security and other fields," said Zhang.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry stressed the Taiwan issue is an internal matter that affects China's territorial integrity and the national feelings of 1.3 billion Chinese people.

Washington's move is a flagrant trampling on the three joint communiques reached between China and the United States, to which the U.S. government has repeatedly committed itself.

The communique signed on Aug. 17, 1982, states that "it (U.S.) does not seek to carry out a long-term policy of arms sales to Taiwan, that its arms sales to Taiwan will not exceed, either in qualitative or in quantitative terms, the level of those supplied in recent years since the establishment of diplomatic relations between the United States and China, and that it intends gradually to reduce its sale of arms to Taiwan, leading, over a period of time, to a final resolution."

The U.S. latest arms sale offer not only goes back on its solemn promise, erodes its credibility as a big power, but serves to prop up the pro-Taiwan independence forces in their bid to split China, poison the atmosphere across the Taiwan Straits, intensify cross-strait tension and eventually endanger peace, stability and security in the Asia and Pacific region and the world at large.

Sino-U.S. relations have come to a critical juncture with the Taiwan issue high on the agenda if the two powers seek cooperation rather than confrontation. At such a juncture, if some people in Washington intend to play the Taiwan card to obstruct China's reunification, if they, clinging to their Cold War mentality, persist in their willful act, they will definitely arouse utmost indignation among the Chinese people. This will certainly be Washington’s undoing as a result of its miscalculations.

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