US announces $1.8B arms sales for Taiwan

“We are troubled that it has now been over 4 years – the longest interval because the passage of the Taiwan Relations Act in 1979 – because the administration has notified Congress of a brand new arms sale package deal”, the senators wrote.

The $6 billion deal in 2010 caused China to cut off military ties to the US for several months, but relations were restored quickly after.

China, which regards Taiwan as a breakaway territory, said yesterday it “firmly opposes sales of weapons, military hardware or technology to Taiwan by any country in any form or under any pretext”. “We remain committed to our one-China policy”, he added.

The United States government Wednesday authorized eight separate defense deals with Taiwan totaling $1.83 billion and drawing criticism and concern from the Chinese government.

The brand new sales come at a period of heightened tensions between America and China over the South China Sea -made islands to maintain territorial claims that were grand.

But at the same time, relations have been roiled by China’s construction of artificial islands in the South China Sea and allegations of Chinese cyber theft.

In addition, the arms sales underscores the common interest that the United States and Taiwan share in the region and Taiwan’s strategic position as an important economic and security partner of the United States in the Asia Pacific, it added.

But China has said it is strongly opposed to the sale, and has pledged to sanction the USA firms involved in it.

In 2013, Lockheed Martin signed an agreement with the Thailand-based Reignwood Group to build a 10-megawatt offshore plant to provide energy for a new luxury resort on Hainan island in southern China.

“China’s government and companies will not carry out cooperation and commercial dealings with these types of companies”.

“It was unnecessary as they are all defensive weapons which are aimed for increasing our self-defence capabilities and helping maintain peace in the Taiwan Strait and won’t threaten the mainland”.

Pentagon spokesman Bill Urban said “US and Chinese counterparts have been in contact today”, both on the military and political level, but declined to go into more details and referred reporters to Chinese officials for comment.

The report, which covered issues ranging from EU-China trade relations and cybersecurity to human rights and climate change, was debated in the committee Tuesday and will be put to a vote Wednesday.

Taiwan has had de facto independence since then, but the mainland has never renounced the threat of force, if needed, to make the two sides reunite.

The sale includes two decommissioned US Navy frigates, amphibious vehicles, air and ground missiles and communications systems. The package also includes $416 million of guns, upgrade kits, ammunition and support for Raytheon’s Close-in Weapons System.