China Blasts Resolution to Defend Taiwan

BEIJING —  Responding furiously to a U.S. congressional pledge to help defend Taiwan from Chinese attack, China accused the United States of the “detestable act” of trying to block the island’s reunification with the mainland.

“Taiwan is China’s sacred territory and is not a U.S. protectorate,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Shen Guofang said Thursday.

His comments came two days after the House of Representatives overwhelmingly adopted a nonbinding resolution saying the United States should come to Taiwan’s defense.

The United States has sent two naval battle groups to the region since China began military exercises earlier this month in and around the Taiwan Strait.

Hours after China expressed its unhappiness with the House action, the Senate passed a similar, though milder, nonbinding resolution deploring Chinese war games and missile tests in the Taiwan Strait and urging China to “cease its bellicose actions directed at Taiwan.”