United States expected to sell guided missile frigates to Taiwan

USA congressional aides say the Obama administration is planning its first arms sale to Taiwan in four years, including navy frigates, mine sweepers, Stinger missiles and other equipment.

The criticism from Ma Xiaoguang, spokesman for the Cabinet’s Taiwan Affairs Office, follows a stern warning from China’s Foreign Ministry on Tuesday that the sale threatened relations with the U.S. Another congressional aide stated the notification from the administration was expected “any time now”. “We are calling to the USA side to stick to its obligations and terminate arms supply to Taiwan”, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hong Lei said a briefing.

The U.S. State Department refused to comment on a report saying that the United States will soon move ahead with a US$1.83 billion arms sale to Taiwan.

He stressed that arms supply to Taiwan was an involvement of Washington into internal affairs of China, and could damage US-China relations.

The new sales would come at a period of heightened tensions between the USA and China over the South China Sea, where Washington has been critical of Beijing’s building of man-made islands to assert expansive territorial claims.

The move comes a year after Congress passed the Naval Transfer Act authorizing the sale of up to four Perry-class frigates to Taiwan in December 2014.

Democratic Taiwan will elect a brand new president subsequent month, with Tsai Ing-wen of the independence-leaning opposition Democratic Progressive Party the favourite to win.

Senator John McCain, an Arizona Republican who heads the Armed Services Committee, and Benjamin Cardin, the top Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, urged Obama last month to offer another arms package to Taiwan, according to Bloomberg.

Eliot Engel, the ranking minority member of the US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs, called last week for more regular arms sales to Taiwan, despite China’s political sensitivity on the subject.

It would be the first arms sale to Taiwan since 2011.

“This pair of frigates is not a major irritant”, he said, adding that they don’t constitute a dramatic or radical leap in Taiwan’s military capability.