The US State Department said on Saturday June 26 that the sale contributed to "security and stability" between Taiwan and China, Reuters reported. Beijing announced a series of moves against the US in retaliation for the proposed $6.4bn (4bn) sale.
Damian Grammaticas, BBC News, Beijing, analyzed the situation and stated:
China's threat to impose sanctions on US firms supplying arms to Taiwan is interesting if perplexing.
It's unclear what "sanctions" would involve in practice, since US firms aren't allowed to sell arms to China
China's threat to withdraw co-operation on key international and regional issues is the most serious one. Here China can make life difficult for Washington.
It can complicate US attempts to deal with nuclear programmes in Iran and North Korea, it can refuse to help in currency and trade issues.
The US is the leading arms supplier to Taiwan and has a treaty obligation [sic. There is no treaty between Taiwan and U.S.] to provide it with defensive arms.
A foreign ministry spokesman said the arms deal would have "repercussions that neither side wishes to see".
The Pentagon earlier notified the US Congress of the proposed arms sale, which forms part of a package first pledged by the Bush administration.
Friday's notification to Congress by the Defense Security Co-operation Agency (DSCA) was required by law. US lawmakers have 30 days to comment on the proposed sale, Associated Press reported. If there are no objections, it would proceed.
The arms package includes 114 Patriot missiles, 60 Black Hawk helicopters and communications equipment for Taiwan's F-16 fleet, the agency said in a statement. It does not include F-16 fighter jets, which Taiwan's military has been seeking.
(Source: BBC, Jan 30, 2010).