Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi criticized a record U.S. arms sale to Taiwan, “pro-independence forces in Taiwan” and Japan’s leaders in comments during a diplomatic event on Tuesday. The remarks came as Beijing conducted a second day of military exercises around the island it has long claimed as its own.

“In response to the continued provocations by pro-independence forces in Taiwan and the US’s large-scale arms sales to Taiwan, we must resolutely oppose and counterattack strongly,” Wang said as he reviewed a year of diplomacy by Asia’s largest and most influential nation.

He reiterated China’s goal of “complete reunification” with Taiwan, a self-ruled island that broke away from China during a civil war in 1949 and evolved into a multi-party democracy. Taiwan’s government argues that the island was never part of China in its current form under the Communist Party and that Beijing’s sovereignty claims are illegitimate.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi criticized a record U.S. arms sale to Taiwan, “pro-independence forces in Taiwan” and Japan’s leaders in comments during a diplomatic event on Tuesday. The remarks came as Beijing conducted a second day of military exercises around the island it has long claimed as its own.

“In response to the continued provocations by pro-independence forces in Taiwan and the US’s large-scale arms sales to Taiwan, we must resolutely oppose and counterattack strongly,” Wang said as he reviewed a year of diplomacy by Asia’s largest and most influential nation.

He reiterated China’s goal of “complete reunification” with Taiwan, a self-ruled island that broke away from China during a civil war in 1949 and evolved into a multi-party democracy. Taiwan’s government argues that the island was never part of China in its current form under the Communist Party and that Beijing’s sovereignty claims are illegitimate.