China's Defense Ministry on Friday expressed strong indignation and firm opposition to the U.S. arms sales to Taiwan, urging the U.S. to respect China's core interests and immediately withdraw related arms sales items. 'The U.S. side clings obstinately to the Bush administration's plan of arms sales to Taiwan, which severely undermines the mutual trust between two militaries,' said Defense Ministry spokesman Huang Xueping in a statement. 'It also brings severe obstacle to the improvement and development of China-U.S. military ties,' Huang said. 'We reserve the right of taking further actions.' Huang's remarks came amid reports that the U.S. Defense Department had recently awarded Lockheed Martin Corp a contract for selling an unspecified number of advanced Patriot missiles to Taiwan. The Bush administration announced a 6.5-billion-U.S.-dollar arms package for Taiwan in October 2008. The contract with Lockheed Martin Corp this time was part of that deal. 'We urge the United States to stop military links with Taiwan, in order to avoid creating further damage to the relations between the two countries and the two militaries and damage to the peace and stability across the Taiwan Straits,' he said. 