China Tuesday denounced US plans to sell Taiwan a sophisticated package of weapons which would significantly boost the island's naval defense against a possible Chinese attack.
While the United States rebuffed Taiwanese requests for Arleigh Burke class destroyers mounted with state-of-the-art Aegis radar, it still approved substantial sales including eight diesel-powered submarines.
Taiwan has yet to react to the decision, to be formally announced by the White House later Tuesday, but analysts said the package would be the most significant arms sale to the island in a decade.
US officials said Taiwan would also be offered four Kidd-class destroyers, 12 P-3C submarine-hunting patrol aircraft, self-propelled artillery and a briefing on PAC-3 missiles that Taiwan may request in the future.
China, which considers Taiwan part of its territory, expressed "extreme concern" over the proposed sale, saying it would violate Sino-US agreements and escalate tension across the Taiwan Strait.
"China has always been seriously opposed to weapons sales to Taiwan and strongly opposed to such sophisticated weapons," foreign ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue told a bi-weekly briefing.
"If the US side disregards Chinese opposition to the sale of the above weapons to Taiwan, it will constitute a serious violation of China's sovereignty and gross interference in China's internal affairs," said Zhang.
Zhang declined to say what measures China would take in retaliation, but she said Washington would bear full responsibility for any rise in tension in Taiwan or the Asian region.
Taiwan's top military spokesman Huang Sui-sheng declined to comment on the arms deal, but said the island was menaced by its giant neighbor – BEIJING (AFP)
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