US announces plan to sell arms to Taiwan

The US has announced a weapons sale to Taiwan, the first under Donald Trump, in a move that will likely heighten tensions with China.

Taiwan

Taiwan's military fire artillery from self-propelled Howitzers during the annual Han Kuang exercises in Hsinchu, north eastern Taiwan in 2015. Source: AP

The United States plans to sell Taiwan $US1.42 billion ($A1.85 billion) in arms, the first such sale under the administration of Donald Trump and a move sure to anger China, whose help the president has been seeking to rein in North Korea.

State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert has told reporters the administration had told Congress of the seven proposed sales on Thursday.

"It's now valued about $1.42 billion," she said.

The State Department said the package included technical support for early warning radar, high Speed anti-radiation missiles, torpedoes and missile components.

Nauert said the sales showed US "support for Taiwan's ability to maintain a sufficient self-defence capability," but there was no change to the United States' long-standing "one China" policy.

The sale, which requires congressional approval, would be the first to Taiwan under Trump and the first since a $US1.83 billion sale that former President Barack Obama announced in December 2015, to China's dismay.

The previous package included two Navy frigates in addition to anti-tank missiles and amphibious attack vehicles.

US officials said in March the administration was crafting a big arms sale to Taiwan, but such talk died down as Trump sought to persuade Beijing to do more to rein in North Korea's nuclear and missile programs, an increasing threat to the United States.

Earlier on Thursday, China responded angrily and said it had protested to Washington after a US Senate committee approved a bill calling for the resumption of port visits to Taiwan by the US Navy for the first time since the United States adopted a one-China policy in 1979.


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Published 30 June 2017 7:38am
Updated 30 June 2017 7:40am
Source: AAP


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