China Reiterates Opposition to US Arms Sales After Taiwan Receives Two F-16V Fighter Jets

China has reiterated its opposition to United States arms sales to Taiwan after the self-governed island received two F-16V fighter jets, with Beijing's Foreign Ministry also pushing back against what it called the "so-called Chinese spy narrative."

The latest delivery of advanced fighter jets to Taiwan comes as part of ongoing US military support for the island, a long-standing source of tension between Washington and Beijing, which views Taiwan as part of its territory and opposes any foreign arms transfers to the island's government.

Chinese officials have consistently argued that US arms sales to Taiwan violate the "one-China" principle and interfere in what Beijing considers an internal matter, a position it has repeated following previous arms transfers.

Spy narrative dispute

The Foreign Ministry's comments also addressed a separate matter involving the detention in the United States of a woman accused of being an "unregistered agent of China," with Beijing dismissing the characterization as part of a broader narrative it describes as politically motivated.

China's Foreign Ministry has frequently accused the United States of exaggerating claims of Chinese espionage activity, framing such cases as part of a wider pattern of what it calls unfounded accusations aimed at justifying restrictive policies toward China.

The combination of the F-16V delivery and the espionage case reflects the broader state of US-China tensions, which continue to span military, diplomatic and security dimensions even as both governments periodically signal interest in managing the relationship through dialogue.

Taiwan's acquisition of additional F-16V jets is part of a longer-running modernization effort supported by Washington, which maintains informal but substantial defense ties with Taipei despite the absence of formal diplomatic relations.

Neither Beijing nor Washington has signaled any shift in their respective long-standing positions on Taiwan arms sales as a result of this latest development.