Taiwan’s Southern armoured brigade demonstrates their combat skills during a live-fire army exercise.

Beijing:

China said Thursday that a US bill that would send direct military aid to Taiwan “sent serious wrong signals to Taiwan independence and separatist forces”.

If the bill continues to move forward, “it will greatly shake the political foundation of China-US relations, and will have extremely serious consequences for … peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait,” foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said at a briefing.

 A Senate committee took the first step Wednesday toward the United States directly providing billions of dollars in military aid to Taiwan and making ties more official, ramping up support following soaring tensions with Beijing.

The United States for decades has sold weapons to Taiwan but the new legislation will go further by providing US security assistance of $4.5 billion over four years, a step sure to infuriate Beijing. It also lays out sanctions on China if it uses force to try to seize the island.