US arms sales to Taiwan undermine ties: Chinese envoy

US arms sales to Taiwan and sanctions against some Chinese entities and individuals undermine the bilateral ties between Beijing and Washington, Chinese Ambassador to the US Cui Tiankai has said.

"And all these actions -- sanctions against Chinese companies and especially arms sales to Taiwan -- will certainly undermine the mutual confidence between the two sides and run counter to the spirit of the Mar-a-Lago summit (President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping's April meeting in Florida)," Cui told the media here on Thursday.

Stressing that China is always firmly opposed to arms sales to Taiwan, Cui said this violates the one-China principle as well as the three joint communiques between Beijing and Washington.

On the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue, China is implementing UN Security Council resolutions "fully and effectively", said Cui.

"If there is any Chinese entity or individual that violates UN sanctions, we'll conduct our investigation and we'll pursue the case in the court with the Chinese law," he said.

"But we are against this kind of so-called long-arm jurisdiction by the US side," added Cui.

The US State Department confirmed on Thursday that it had formally notified the Congress of arms sales to Taiwan valued at $1.42 billion.

US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Thursday also announced sanctions against a Chinese bank, a Chinese company and two Chinese individuals for allegedly helping North Korea.

--IANS

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