China summons USA envoy, protests arms sales to Taiwan

The US maintains that there is no need for the arms deal to hurt the relationship with China, pointing to Beijing’s island construction in the South China Sea and alleged cyber-theft.

Beijing is not taking the recent United States arms sale to Taiwan sitting down, and has summoned the charge d’ affaires of the US Embassy in China to protest what it deems a violation of worldwide law and “the basic norms of global relations”.

“China strongly opposes the United States arms sale to Taiwan“, said foreign minister Zheng Zeguang.

The Obama administration formally notified the US Congress on Wednesday that it had authorised the sale to Taiwan of $1.83 billion in advanced weaponry, including two guided missile frigates.

The 1.83-billion-dollar deal came at a very sensitive time as the leader’s election in Taiwan, an integral part of China’s sovereign territory, is just a month away.

Reed Foster, a military capabilities expert from consultancy IHS Aerospace, Defense & Security, said that the USA defense industry does little business with China so any action taken by Beijing was unlikely to have a big impact.

“Our longstanding policy on arms sales to Taiwan has been consistent across six different USA administrations”, he added.

The deal includes two Perry-class frigates, AAV7 amphibious assault vehicles, Stinger anti-aircraft missiles and other equipment.

It is the first such arms agreement between the two countries for more than four years.

“This decision is consistent with both the legal requirements of the Taiwan Relations Act and our national interest in helping the democratic government in Taipei preserve stability across the Taiwan Strait”, he said.

Relations between Beijing and Taipei have warmed under current Taiwanese president Ma Ying-jeou of the Kuomintang party.

In a speech earlier this week, Adm. Scott A. Swift, commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, warned that China’s attempts to keep other navies out of the South China Sea posed the risk of creating a “sustained arc of increased regional tension” that would be hard to contain.

Observers said the Chinese reaction was predictable bluster from Beijing. US State Department spokesman John Kirby declared: “The Chinese can react to this as they see fit”.

The administration has announced more than $12 billion in arms sales to Taiwan since 2010, but none since $5.9 billion in sales in September 2011 that included upgrades for Taiwan’s F-16 fighter jets.

China considers its national security and sovereignty with utmost seriousness and is likely to consider this deal as a breach of worldwide protocol of respecting national boundaries by the US.