An attack helicopter attached to a brigade under the PLA 71st Group Army flies over a strait during a flight training exercise in late July, 2023. (eng.chinamil.com.cn/Photo by Xiang Xu)

US weapons deliveries to the island of Taiwan are intended to instigate conflict in the Taiwan Straits in a move to contain China, experts said on Sunday, after China slammed the US for its first military aid package to the island under the US Presidential Drawdown Authority.

Chen Binhua, a spokesperson at the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, said on Saturday that China firmly opposes the US providing weapons to China's Taiwan region.

The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) authorities' stubborn insistence on the secessionist position of "Taiwan independence," attempting to seek "independence" by relying on the US and by using force, begging for US arms sales or military aid, and enhancing military collusion with the US are moves that are making Taiwan a powder keg and ammunition depot, and have increased the danger and risk of a conflict in the Taiwan Straits, Chen said.

If the DPP is allowed to follow this path to the end, the youth will only become cannon fodder, the spokesperson said.

"'Taiwan independence' is a dead end, as no matter how much tax money from local people the DPP authorities and secessionist forces use to buy US weapons, there is no sway to our firm will to realize the complete national reunification and no stop to our strong capability in safeguarding national sovereignty and territorial integrity," he said.

Chen's remarks came after the US on Friday announced a military aid package worth $345 million for the island of Taiwan, as Washington will send man-portable air defense systems, intelligence and surveillance capabilities, firearms and missiles to the island, the Associated Press reported on Saturday.

It marks the first time the US has transferred equipment to Taiwan island under what is known as the Presidential Drawdown Authority, which allows the US to pull weapons and other stocks directly from Defense Department inventories in a process that accelerates the transfer of inventory, CNN reported.

The move sets a very bad precedence, as the US could continue to deliver weapons and equipment to the island of Taiwan the same way in the future, observers said.

It shows that the US is in a hurry to arm the island of Taiwan, they said.

Wei Dongxu, a Beijing-based military expert, told the Global Times that the US and the DPP authorities are colluding with each other to build the island into a pawn in the US' game to contain China, and the arms transfers are part of it.

It is a malicious move by the US to turn people on the island of Taiwan into cannon fodder and have them resist reunification by force, while the US homeland stays far away from the conflict, Wei said.

But no matter how "Taiwan independence" forces collude with external interference forces, the Chinese People's Liberation Army is fully capable of crushing their attempts in seeking "independence" or resisting reunification by force, Wei said.