China urges US to cease arming Taiwan: FM spokesperson

China urges the United States to immediately stop arming Taiwan and cease its dangerous moves that undermine peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said on Saturday.

The spokesperson made the remarks in response to a reporter's query that the U.S. Defense Department on Saturday announced that the U.S. State Department has approved 1.988 billion U.S. dollars in arms sales to Taiwan, including the "National Advanced Surface-to-air Missile Systems" and radar systems.

The U.S. arms sales to China's Taiwan region severely violate the one-China principle and the three China-U.S. Joint Communiques, especially the August 17 Communique of 1982. The sales seriously infringe upon China's sovereignty and security interests, harm China-U.S. relations and undermine peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, and send a gravely wrong message to "Taiwan independence" separatist forces, the spokesperson said.

China strongly condemns and firmly opposes the sales and has lodged solemn representations with the U.S. side, the spokesperson noted.

The U.S. decision to use Taiwan to contain China and help advance "Taiwan independence" agenda by arming Taiwan goes against the U.S. leaders' commitment of not supporting "Taiwan independence" and the two sides' effort of stabilizing the China-U.S. relations, the spokesperson said.

China urges the United States to immediately stop arming Taiwan and stop the dangerous moves that undermine peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, the spokesperson said. China will take resolute countermeasures and take all measures necessary to firmly defend national sovereignty, security and territorial integrity.

China urges US to cease arming Taiwan: FM spokesperson

China urges US to cease arming Taiwan: FM spokesperson

China urges US to cease arming Taiwan: FM spokesperson

China urges US to cease arming Taiwan: FM spokesperson

China urges US to cease arming Taiwan: FM spokesperson

China urges US to cease arming Taiwan: FM spokesperson

China's civil aviation sector reported record-high air traffic in the third quarter of this year (Q3), data from the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) showed Friday.

In Q3, the total transport turnover, passenger trips, as well as cargo and mail transport volume in the country's civil aviation sector rose 19.8 percent, 12.3 percent and 19.4 percent year on year, respectively.

Meanwhile, passenger trips stoo 200 million during the same period. Of the total, domestic routes registered 180 million passenger trips, up 8.3 percent year on year, while international routes recorded more than 18.2 million trips, surging 78 percent year on year, the data showed.

Since July, international passenger trips on Chinese airlines have recovered to over 90 percent of the same period in 2019 for three consecutive months.

According to the CAAC, the civil aviation market's freight volume exceeded 2.3 million tonnes during the period, with domestic and international freight transport increasing by 12.9 percent and 30.1 percent year on year, respectively.

"Civil aviation transport has shown strong momentum in the first three quarters of this year, which has consolidated the development of China's export-oriented economy and international trade," said Zhong Shan, chief economist at the Institute of Air Transport, China Academy of Civil Aviation Science and Technology.

China posts record-high air traffic in Q3