Taiwan U.S.–China Military

Ministry of National Defense: The U.S. Side Should Handle the Taiwan Question with Extreme Caution

国防部：美方应慎之又慎处理台湾问题

PLA Daily (解放军报) 28 May 2026

Summary

At the May 28 MND press conference, spokesperson Senior Colonel Jiang Bin responded to two concurrent U.S. developments — the Acting Navy Secretary's announced pause on a $14 billion Taiwan arms sale and the FY2027 NDAA's proposed $1 billion Taiwan Security Cooperation Initiative — with a demand that Washington honor the August 17 Communiqué and summit-level commitments. The response treats the arms-sale pause not as a concession but as an occasion to press for broader compliance, invoking the summit consensus as a binding standard against which U.S. legislative action is measured. What remains unclear is whether this framing represents a deliberate escalation in rhetorical baseline or standard boilerplate applied to a coincidentally busy news cycle.

Translation

On the afternoon of May 28, the Ministry of National Defense held a routine press conference, at which Senior Colonel Jiang Bin, spokesperson for the Ministry of National Defense, answered questions from reporters.

Reporter: The Acting Secretary of the U.S. Navy recently stated publicly that the United States is pausing a $14 billion arms sale to Taiwan, drawing considerable attention from public opinion on the island. The U.S. House of Representatives recently released portions of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2027, which includes $1 billion under the "Taiwan Security Cooperation Initiative" to assist in enhancing Taiwan's "defense capabilities." What is the spokesperson's comment on this?

Jiang Bin: China's position of firmly opposing U.S. arms sales to China's Taiwan region is consistent and unequivocal. The U.S. side should abide by the one-China principle and the provisions of the three Sino-U.S. joint communiqués—especially the August 17 Communiqué—implement the important consensus reached at the summit meeting between the heads of state of China and the United States, honor the commitments and statements it has made to the Chinese side, handle the Taiwan question with extreme caution, and take concrete actions to safeguard the stable, healthy, and sustainable development of China-U.S. relations and military-to-military relations.

Original Chinese

5月28日下午，国防部举行例行记者会，国防部新闻发言人蒋斌大校答记者问。记者：美国代理海军部长日前公开表示，美国正暂缓一项价值140亿美元的对台军售案，引发岛内舆论关注。美国会众议院近日公布2027财年《国防授权法案》部分内容，其中“台湾安全合作倡议”涉及10亿美元，用于协助提升台“防卫能力”。请问发言人对此有何评论？蒋斌：中方坚决反对美国向中国台湾地区出售武器的立场是一贯、明确的。美方应恪守一个中国原则和中美三个联合公报特别是“八·一七”公报规定，落实好中美元首会晤重要共识，兑现对中方所作承诺和表态，慎之又慎处理台湾问题，以实际行动维护中美两国两军关系稳定、健康、可持续发展。